Mystery Morphs: The 13th Ghost
by Scoobyfan1
Summary: This is story number one of my new Scooby Doo Fan Fiction series Mystery Morphs. The thirteenth and final ghost from the Demon Chest is on the loose and Vincent Van Ghoul makes an offer to the gang that will change their lives forever. Pairings: Some Fred/Daphne and Shaggy/Velma.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2009 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network, however the idea for the Mystery Morphs series is my own.

In a remote part of Nepal in the Himalayan Mountains stands a large and imposing gothic like castle in which sits an older man and a younger Oriental man, the young man is talking with the older man while watching a television newscast.

The young man is Flim Flam, a one time con artist and former member of Mystery Inc., the famous detective agency that has solved supernatural mysteries all over the globe.

Back In the 1980's Flim Flam as well as four members of Mystery Inc.: Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo traveled around the world to track down the thirteen of the most powerful and dangerous ghosts and ghouls on Earth.

The older man is Vincent Van Ghoul, a mystic Warlock who helped Scooby and friends catch the Thirteen Ghosts that Shaggy and Scooby were tricked into releasing from their confinement in the Chest of Demons where the were imprisoned for hundreds of thousands of years.

"We have to do something about this" Flim Flam remarked.

"We most certainly do" Vincent responded.

"But what can we do Vincent? this ghost is wreaking havoc around the world" Flim Flam replied.

"I'm not sure" Vincent commented.

"But we do have to do something Vince" Flim Flam responded.

"Well the first thing we need to do is some research, i'm almost positive i've seen that ghost somewhere before" Vincent said.

Vincent and Flim Flam turn off the television and head into Vincent Van Ghoul's library, the library is immense to say the least as it is filled with dozens and dozens of shelves containing all manner of books about many different subjects, Vincent walks over to one of the shelves and takes out a book called _The Complete Guide to the Supernatural_.

He flips through the pages of the book and finds what he's looking for.

"Here it is, I knew I saw that ghost somewhere before" Vincent said to himself.

He then called Flim Flam over and both of them sit down at a desk in the room and read through the volume that Vincent has picked out.

"His name is Rangor and he is one of the most if not the most powerful ghost or ghoul on the planet, and he also happens to be the 13th ghost from the Chest of Demons" Vincent explained.

Flim Flam looked at the volume that lay on the table and at the picture of the thirteenth ghost with a puzzled look on his face.

"So that the thirteenth ghost from the Demon Chest?" he asked.

Vincent looked over at the young man and nodded his head in agreement.

Vincent takes the volume from the Library back into the main hall of the castle with Flim Flam following in tow, the two of them then began to discuss what they have from Vincent's book.

"Vincent i'm curious, if this Rangor is truly the thirteenth ghost then why didn't Scooby, Shaggy, Scrappy, Daphne and I catch him when we were trying to catch the 13 ghosts back in the 80's?" Flim Flam wondered aloud.

"A very simple reason Flim Flam, while I fully intended to have Scooby and friends catch the thirteenth ghost; the main reason why it never happened is because Scooby's friends got back together, then disbanded Mystery Inc. for a while and then each of them became busy with their careers and college, then Mystery Inc. decided to get back together and went back to solving mysteries, the good news is I do still have Scooby, Shaggy and Daphne's e-mail addresses and phone numbers; they still send me christmas cards, letters and e-mails every so often, also I was able to get the other two members of Mystery Inc.'s information online as well" Vincent explained.

"Ah, you mean Fred and Velma right?" Flim Flam asked.

"Correct Flim Flam, Fred and Velma" replied the sage warlock.

"Vince, are you sure Scooby and friends are available, I mean they could be off solving a mystery in some far off part of the world" Flim Flam commented.

"I am aware that Scooby and friends may not be available, however Flim Flam if we cannot reach them then I'm afraid the fate of the world maybe in serious jeopardy" Vincent responded.

"I certainly hope we can reach them" Flim Flam replied.

"Flim Flam not only will we reach them but I believe we can give them a some magical help against the 13th Ghost, in one of my spell books there is a spell that would give someone or a group of people the power to transform into various animals & creatures" Vincent explained.

"Vince, that actually might be a good idea, besides if this ghost is as powerful as you say, Scooby and his friends will need all the help that they can get". Flim Flam replied.

Vincent and Flim Flam walk from the main hall of the castle back into the library, the mystic looks over at one of the book shelves trying to find a specfic spell book, he then finds what he was looking for and walks back into the main hall of the castle.

"Here it is, this is the spell that can give anyone the power to transform into various animals and creatures" Vincent remarked.

"I certainly hope this spell will work, Vincent" Flim Flam commented.

"I certainly hope so too Flim Flam for our sake, Scooby and his friends sake, and most importantly the world's sake" Vincent remarked.


	2. Chapter 2

Outside a large house somewhere in the Midwest, there stand four young adults and a Great Dane; the four young adults are Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, while the Great Dane is the famous Scooby Doo.

These four young adults and their Great Dane comprise the famous detective agency Mystery Inc. who together have solved hundreds of supernatural mysteries over the years, and brought hundreds of criminals to justice as well.

They stand next to a local police officer, next to him stands an older man in handcuffs.

Mystery Inc. has solved yet another case and are explaining to the officer the details of the case and how they captured the most recent villain.

"Mr. Thomas used the legend of the Phantom to cover his criminal activities" Fred explained to the officer.

Daphne picks up the explanation "the phantom disguise and all of the tricks he used to scare away any intruders or onlookers".

Velma continues "He used the basement in the house and the secret tunnel under the house to put the smuggled Diamonds and Jewels in and also to hide them from the authorities".

Shaggy picks up the story "he used this house for his hideout because it was abandoned and because he thought that no one would look here for the stolen gems".

"I see" replied the officer.

"But how was he able to simply disappear with millions of dollars in gems?" the officer wondered aloud.

Fred picks things up "simple, he used some old magic tricks that he had learned; we found out while searching his house for clues that Mr. Thomas practiced magic in his spare time and that disappearing and vanishing tricks were some his favorite illusions".

"There's one last thing that I'm wondering, how exactly did you figure out it who the Phantom was?" the officer asked.

Daphne continues "our first clue was the bank bags we found it the basement, we didn't drive by many banks on the way here so we knew something was up".

Velma continued "next we found an old key, it looked like it could open some kind of safe and that it was an unusual design, he probably dropped the key after he put the smuggled jewels in the safe inside the house".

Shaggy picked up the explanation "and the last clue we found was a deposit slip showing that he had made a large deposit in his safe deposit box, however what he didn't realize was that he left the deposit slip in the house; he must have been in quite a hurry to leave the house in order to make a deposit".

"Well, that pretty explains everything; good work you five, we've been trying to catch this smuggler for months now, thanks to you all and Scooby we were able to catch this smuggler before he skipped town" the officer responded.

"You're welcome and we were more than happy to do it, we love solving mysteries and we were glad to solve this one", Fred replied.

"No problem, i'll take the gems and Mr. Thomas into custody" responds the officer.

The officer led the now unmasked phantom into a nearby police car and drove off towards the local police station.

"Well that wraps things up gang, let's head for home" Fred remarked

"Yeah we've been on the road for a while now" Daphne responded.

The blue and green pastel van known as The Mystery Machine pulled out from the parking lot in front of the house and begins to make it's way down the road towards the highway, Fred navigates the van onto the interstate and the gang begins to head back towards home for rest and relaxation, but little do they know that they will not get to rest or relax for long.

Back in the Himalayas Vincent pulls out a sheet of paper with Mystery Inc.'s phone number and begins to telephone them.

Vincent walks over to the phone and begins to dial Mystery Inc.'s number.

"It's ringing" Vincent remarked.

"Is anyone answering?" Flim Flam asked.

"Not yet" Vincent responded.

After ringing a few times, Vincent can hear the gang's answering machine turn on; "Hello, this is Mystery Inc. no mystery too baffling or too frightening for us to solve, this is Fred Jones, i'm Daphne Blake, i'm Velma Dinkley, my name is Shaggy Rogers rand ri'm Scooby Doo, we're not available right now but leave a message after the beep with your contact info and message, and we'll get back to you".

After hearing the beep, Vincent begins to leave his message, "Hello Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby, this is Vincent Van Ghoul and i'm in my castle with Flim Flam and we need to talk to you soon, when you get this message please contact us so when get together and talk, you know my number and I hope to hear from you soon".

"I certainly hope Scooby and friends got the message", Flim Flam remarked.

"I certainly hope so" Vincent responded.

The Mystery Machine pulls into the driveway of Blake Manor, finally the gang has arrived back home.

"It's sure great to be home, right gang?" Fred quips.

"Sure is" Daphne replied

"Certainly is" Velma added.

"Like it'll sure be nice to sleep in our own beds again, right Scoob" Shaggy remarked.

"Reah, rit rure rill re" Scooby replied.

The gang carried their luggage into the mansion after which Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy walked upstairs and put their luggage away.

Afterwards Scooby and friends walked back downstairs and sat down in the living room of the mansion to relax for a while.

Later in the day the gang checked the mail and phone messages; Fred walked over to the answering machine on the phone and as he did so he finds something very interesting.

"This is certainly intriguing" Fred remarked.

"What's that Freddie?" Daphne asked.

"It's a message from Vincent Van Ghoul" Fred replied.


	3. Chapter 3

"Vincent Van Ghoul?" Daphne questioned.

"I haven't spoken to him in years; it feels like forever since we've spoken" Daphne continued.

"Who?" Shaggy asked as he Scooby and Velma enter the room.

"Fred says there's a message from Vincent Van Ghoul on the answering machine guys" Daphne explained.

"Zoinks, like I sure hope this doesn't mean we have to chase those 13 Ghosts again" Shaggy remarked.

"Reah, rhose rhosts were rary" Scooby replied.

Fred walks over to where Daphne is standing and joins her.

"I haven't thought about Vincent Van Ghoul for years" Fred remarked.

"Hmm, I wonder why Mr. Van Ghoul would be calling us for" Velma wondered aloud.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby walk over to the answering machine as Fred plays the phone message for everyone.

"Hello Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby, this is Vincent Van Ghoul and I'm in my castle with Flim Flam and we need to talk to you soon, when you get this message please contact us so when get together and talk, you know my number and I hope to hear from you soon" Vincent said over the phone.

Fred looks a bit puzzled as he sits down on the sofa.

"I wonder what Vincent could want, we haven't spoken in a while and he usually doesn't contact us for no reason" the blonde haired young adult wondered.

"Let's call him and see what's going on" Daphne replied.

"One thing I've learned since I met him, with Vincent Van Ghoul whatever it is, it's important" Velma responded.

Fred calls Vincent's phone and it begins to ring; across the world in the Himalayas Vincent Van Ghoul's phone begins to ring, he looks at the caller ID and then smiles.

"Thank goodness, it's Fred" Vincent said with some relief.

Vincent picks up his phone and begins to talk to Fred, the conversation takes about 10 minutes as each of the members of Mystery Inc. talks to the warlock, finally Fred finishes his conversation with Vincent Van Ghoul and he hangs up the phone.

Fred then tells the gang of his conversation and what he was calling about.

"Vincent wants us to come to his castle to speak with him, something about a ghost named Rangor" Fred explained.

"I wonder why Vincent wants us to come all the way to the Himalayas to catch a ghost", Daphne responded.

"According to Vincent, this Rangor is the thirteenth ghost from the Chest of Demons" Fred continued.

"No wonder he wants us to come" Velma remarked.

"If this is the thirteenth ghost, my women's intuition tells me that this isn't going to be as easy as any of our previous mysteries" the bespectacled girl continued.

"Yikes, here we go again" Scooby and Shaggy responded.

Scooby and friends then sat down and discussed Vincent's call and after a while they decide to go to the Himalayas and talk to their warlock friend, they decide to go into storage and bring out The Mystery Flying Machine which was the gang's private plane for a short time in the 80's; after they flew it to the Himalayas they decided to put in storage and after about 20 years in storage they decided to bring it out and use it to fly to Nepal.

The gang traveled to a private airfield outside of Coolsville and began to load the plane with their luggage and The Mystery Machine (not the red/black version that the gang used in the _13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo_ but the one that the gang currently uses and is the more familiar one).

After putting the gang's luggage and the Mystery Machine on the plane, Scooby and company boarded the plane and prepared to take off.

After the Air Traffic Controllers gave Scooby and friends plane clearance to take off, The Mystery Flying Machine gained altitude and climbed into the air as Mystery Inc. headed for The Himalayas and their rendezvous with Vincent Van Ghoul.


	4. Chapter 4

It is the next day as the large red and black airplane known as The Mystery Flying Machine prepares to make its descent into a remote airfield in the Himalayan Mountains; Fred pulls back on the controls and guides the aircraft safely onto the long runway which is flanked on both sided by snowdrifts at least a couple feet high.

The plane touches down and lands at the small airstrip, Scooby and friends gathered up their belongings and luggage then departed the aircraft; the blond haired leader of Mystery Inc. walked over to the cargo hold in the back of the plane and opens it up, inside is The Mystery Machine which Fred gets into and drives out of the aircraft.

The five sleuths loaded their luggage and belongings into the Mystery Machine and heads off, the green van carefully winds it's way through the slick and twisting mountain roads of Nepal; inside the vehicle the members of Mystery Inc. are discussing their newest adventure and the person that has called them to this part of the world.

"Hard to believe we haven't seen Vincent in a while" Fred commented.

"I wonder what Mr. Van Ghoul has been up to since we saw him last" Velma wondered.

The Mystery Machine continued to wind it's way through the snowy Nepalese hills, finally arriving at the large Gothic like structure that is the castle of Vincent Van Ghoul; as Fred parks the famous vehicle, it dawns on the group of investigators that the ancient structure is much bigger than they realized.

Vincent Van Ghoul's castle consists of three or four large columns with gargoyles in the front of the building above the front door; there is also a large moat with an old-fashioned drawbridge in addition to a large tower in the upper part of the structure.

"Well here it is gang, Vincent Van Ghoul's castle" Fred declared.

"Jinkies, I hadn't realized just how big his castle was" Velma replied.

"It's almost as big as my parents' house back home," Daphne added.

As Scooby and company gathered their luggage and exited the vehicle they are still marveling at the unique and imposing structure that is the home to their warlock ally; Fred walks up and rings the front doorbell, he joins his friends as they wait for someone to answer, at that moment Flim Flam looks out a window and sees Scooby Doo, Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy standing outside the door; he walks over with a smile on his face to Vincent Van Ghoul to tell him that the gang has arrived.

The great warlock gets up from the large chair he is sitting in and joins Flim Flam as they walk together over to the door; as they both open it, they indeed see Scooby and company standing in the doorway and greet them.

"Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo, I haven't seen you all in some time" Vincent Van Ghoul Vincent remarked.

"I'm with Vince, it sure is great to see all of you again" Flim Flam added.

"We're happy to see you both as well" Fred replied.

"Good now come inside, I wouldn't want to let a lot of cold air in," Vincent stated, with a somewhat stern look on his face.

Vincent Van Ghoul, Flim Flam, as well as Mystery Inc. walked into the main hall of the castle and prepared to discuss their latest adventure.

"Flim Flam and I will show you to your rooms so the five of you can put your luggage away, and relax; I'm certain that you are all exhausted after your long journey here" Vincent stated.

"Reah rog-rired" Scooby remarked.

"Very well, now after the five of you have taken some time to unwind I will tell you why I have called you here" Vincent stated.

Scooby and company followed Vincent and Flim Flam up a staircase and to a set of bedrooms.

"Velma and Daphne's room will be here while Fred, Shaggy and Scooby's room will be right across the hallway" Vincent explained.

Fred, Shaggy and Scooby walked into their bedroom, while Daphne and Velma entered their room.

The two female members of Mystery Inc. each put their luggage away in the bedroom closets, afterwards each of them sat down on their respective beds thinking what kind of mystery they had gotten themselves into.

"Daphne?" Velma asked, sitting up in her bed.

"What's up Velma?" the red head replied.

"I wonder exactly what this ghost looks like and why Vincent called all of us here to catch it" Velma thought.

"I don't know about the ghost, but I do know that if he wanted all of us to be here he knows that with our combined efforts we can stop this specter from destroying the world" Daphne replied.

"I sure hope so, besides after hearing about those twelve ghosts from the Chest of Demons that you, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy caught I really hope that we can capture ghost number thirteen" Velma stated.

"Velma, we've been through some tough mysteries before and we've always solved them; in fact I'm confident that we can solve this one just as easily as we've solved any other case" Daphne declared.

"Daphne, I think some of me is starting to rub off on you" Velma said with a surprised tone in her voice.

"Why do you say that Velma?" the redhead asked curiously.

"Because back when we were first solving mysteries you never seemed like this, you were always getting caught or captured, falling through trap doors or even hypnotized; now you seem confident, almost like Fred is," the bespectacled girl replied.

"Velma, believe me that time where it was just me, Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy solving mysteries I had to be confident; otherwise we would never have done as well as the four of us did, I had to be a leader like Fred and take charge sometimes; of course Scrappy helped me out a lot" Daphne explained.

"Scrappy?" Velma wondered.

"Sure, he was almost like Fred, you and I put together; Velma you should have seen him during some of our adventures, he was a great detective and helped me figure out a lot of our cases; believe me Scrappy gave me the boost I needed to keep things together, it's too bad he's on his own now doing other things; I would have really like to see what he would have done to help us out on this case" Daphne noted.

"I guess he changed a lot from when Scooby started bringing him on all our cases; back then he tried to splat every ghost or monster we faced, of course we didn't have the heart to tell him that they were all fakes; you know something Daphne, I wish he was here too" the bespectacled sleuth said.

"Velma?" Daphne asked.

"Yes?" Velma wondered, still trying to picture Scrappy as a great detective.

"We've been friends for years and I've never told you this but, I've always considered you as like a sister to me" the redhead explained.

"That's funny, I've kind of thought of you as a sister too" the bespectacled girl replied.

Daphne and Velma both smiled as they lay down and drifted of to sleep, during the last few minutes in which they had spoken about past adventures and the sixth member of Mystery Inc. the two female detectives found out a lot about each other and both knew that whatever happened they would always be lifelong friends.

A few hours passed during which each member of the group either slept, read or had a light snack, the five members of Mystery Inc. headed back down the stairs and into the main foyer of the castle, as they four teenagers and their Great Dane entered the main hall they saw Vincent Van Ghoul and Flim Flam each sitting in large chairs.

They looked to be pleased that the sleuths had returned and prepared to speak with Scooby and company.

"Hello everyone, I hope that all of you are refreshed and relaxed" Vincent remarked smiling.

"We certainly are" Fred replied.

"Now I'm sure the five of you have been wondering why I summoned you here" Vincent remarked.

"We certainly are curious" Daphne commented.

"Part of the reason why I called you kids and Scooby to my castle as you know is the capture of the thirteenth ghost; the other is something that if you decide to not accept could mean the difference between victory and utter annihilation.

Vincent walked over to a nearby table and picked up two books, the first is the volume that contained a picture of the 13th ghost and the other is the spell book that contained the transformation spell.

While the great warlock was gathering the books he needed, Scooby and company discussed what Vincent had told them.

"Like he certainly is a cheery guy" Shaggy noted whispering.

"I wonder what he meant by utter annihilation?" Velma asked with a whisper.

"I don't know but whatever he has in store with us, we should definitely accept it" Fred explained.

As Vincent picked up both books and walked over to the sofa, Scooby and company waited for their warlock to sit down; Flim Flam joins them as they watched Vincent placed one of the books down; the powerful mystic opened _The Complete Guide to the Supernatural _to the page that had a picture of the thirteen ghost on it.

"This is Rangor" Vincent explained; "He is one of, if not the most powerful ghost on the planet; for the past few months he has been terrorizing the planet, not only that but he is the 13th ghost from the Demon Chest and the most elusive ghost of all the spirits from the chest" the warlock continued; "I'm also afraid that if nothing is done about him, he will eventually destroy the entire planet" he said finishing up the explanation.

"Jeepers, its no wonder you summoned us here" Daphne remarked sounding surprised.

"Yes, that is precisely why I wanted all of you all here to track down and capture the 13th ghost" Vincent replied.

"But Mr. Van Ghoul, I thought you were a powerful Warlock; surely with all of your power, you and Flim Flam would be able to track him down" Fred asked.

"I am indeed Fred, however even with my power I have been unable to stop the thirteenth ghost" Vincent replied; "Because the five of you have had quite a lot of experience solving supernatural mysteries, the two of us knew that you could track down this horrible spirit" he continued; "Also in my research of Rangor, I found something in one of my spell books that should give the five of you some much needed assistance in catching the thirteenth ghost" Vincent continued.

Vincent placed the _The Complete Guide to the Supernatural _down and picked up the spell book that he had brought over to the sofa; he opened it to the page that he was looking for as Scooby and company look on.

"This is a spell that can give a person or a group of people the power to transform into any animal or half animal-half human creatures such as Werewolves, Mermaids, Mermen, etc." the warlock remarked.

"Spell?" Daphne wondered sounding surprised.

"Animals?" Velma asked.

"Werewolves, Mermaids, Mermen?" Fred added with a curious look on his face.

"Like, giving people the power to transform?" Shaggy asked.

"Rhat's rure reird" Scooby added.

"I will admit it all does sound kind of strange, but Flim Flam and I both agreed that if you five had these powers in addition to your detective skills you would have no problem tracking down and capturing the 13th ghost" Vincent replied, answering the gang's questions and comments.

The five members of Mystery Inc. leaned back on the sofa, each of the sleuths didn't know what to make of what the great warlock had just told them; that he had called them all the way to the Himalayas to track down the most powerful specter from the Chest of Demons and that he could give them the power to become any animal or creature in the world.

"Mr. Van Ghoul this is quite unexpected, I really don't know what to say; I think the five of us should really talk this over" Fred noted.

"If you must, you must but remember this: the fate of the world and the fate of mankind depend on your decision, so choose wisely" Vincent warned.

"I have a question first Mr. Van Ghoul" Daphne said addressing their powerful friend.

"What would you like to know Daphne?" he replied.

"Basically if we agreed to this, would we be able to use these powers to continue to solve mysteries?" Daphne wondered.

"Well yes Daphne, but with some limitations and responsibility" Vincent replied.

"Hmm… I said a few minutes ago, I really don't know Mr. Van Ghoul" Fred explained.


	5. Chapter 5

The four members of the Mystery Inc. detective agency: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo are still debating the strange offer that the great and powerful Warlock Vincent Van Ghoul has given them; the four teenage sleuths sit on the sofa in Vincent's castle as they and their Great Dane are prepared to make a decision that will affect the rest of their lives.

"Vincent, after much thought and much deliberation, we have decided to accept your offer" Fred declared.

"I'm certainly pleased that you have chosen to take my offer, you will never regret this decision" Vincent responded.

"Mr. Van Ghoul there's one thing that puzzles me, why did you decide to pick us to give these powers to?" Velma asked.

"And what are the limitations that you were talking about?" Daphne added.

"All very good questions; First off to answer Velma's question, I decided on the five of you because you all have at one time or another been transformed into various animals and creatures, also I figured that the five of you would be able to handle your newfound powers, as for Daphne's question I shall answer that after the spell has been cast" Vincent explained; "however, I can tell you this: while I did say there would be limitations to your powers, they will be something that if handled correctly could greatly improve your lives" the warlock continued.

"Come to think of it I think having these powers is actually a cool idea and if they'll help us in our investigations and mysteries, then I say we go ahead with the spell" Velma commented.

"I say we go for it, after all you only lives once" Daphne added.

"Daphne's right, when's the next chance that we're going to get this kind of an offer" Shaggy responded.

"Reah" Scooby commented.

"Well it sounds like the rest of the gang is on board and so am I" Fred declared.

"Very well then, it's time to cast the spell" Vincent commented.

Scooby and company stood up from the sofa and moved in front of Vincent Van Ghoul as he prepared to cast the incantation that would completely change Mystery Inc.'s lives in more ways than one.

Vincent picked up the ancient spell book and found the page with the spell he needed, he then raised his arms and began.

"With these words I give Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Shaggy Rogers, Velma Dinkley and Scooby Doo the powers of animals and creatures to use in their investigation of supernatural and non-supernatural mysteries; use these abilities well my friends" the warlock declared.

As the great mystic began to cast the spell Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby noticed that a strange yellow glow was surrounding them; as quickly as Vincent's casting of the spell began, he had finished and the glow suddenly disappeared.

"Wow, that was wild!" Fred exclaimed.

"I think that whole thing gave me a headache, anybody have an aspirin?" Daphne asked, holding her head.

"So now we have our powers, one thing though I don't seem to feel any different then from before, Mr. Van Ghoul" addressed Velma as she spoke to the great warlock.

"Believe me Velma, even though the five of you may not feel any different right now you do have the powers that I promised you, not to mention the great accountability that comes with them" Vincent explained.

"I'm curious, now that we have these powers can you tell us what the limitations you were talking about, Mr. Van Ghoul?" Daphne asked.

"The limitations that you have are as follows when it comes to transformations, the first is for now you will only have about 15 or 20 to choose from but eventually you will have the opportunity to choose from hundreds of different animal and creature transformations, I am also going to give each of you one of these wristwatches which will inform you when more transformations are available" Vincent began.

"Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Velma.

"Yes Velma?" Vincent replied.

"How exactly will our wristwatches inform us as to what new animals or creatures we have acquired?" the bespectacled girl wondered.

"You see Velma, the watches have a special mechanism that will activate and give off a bright blue glow when a new creature or animal transformation is available to the five of you" Vincent explained.

"Jeepers, that's really something!" Daphne remarked in amazement.

"Yes it is, now to continue; you will not be able to transform directly from creature to creature in other words, if one of you wishes to transform yourself into a Werewolf for example you must go from human to Werewolf and then return to human; now you will not be able to transform yourselves directly from a Werewolf into another animal or creature, you will have to return to normal then transform into the animal that you select; when any of you transform into an animal or creature the transformation will be a full one, that is to say both the outside and inside of your body will be full animal or creature and your thoughts and actions will be mostly animal or creature although there will still be a small part of you that will be human you will be for all intensive purposes animals or creatures; the human part of you will still be able to speak as a human does albeit in what is known as thought speak, meaning that you will still be able to speak by thinking what you want to say to the rest of the group, also after you transform you can choose to stay as an animal or creature for any period of time you choose, there is no limit to how long you will be an animal or creature; lastly and this is the most important thing: you must not under any circumstances tell anyone about your powers not even your parents or relatives can know about them, in other words they must be a secret; only the five of you, myself and Flim Flam will know that you five have these powers" Vincent continued.

After Vincent Van Ghoul finished explaining Mystery Inc.'s newfound abilities, they began to discuss their amazing powers with the great warlock and at the same time tried to come to grips with what had happened to them.

"Mr. Van Ghoul all of this is pretty mind boggling, a few minutes ago we were normal teenage detectives and now we're super powered teenage detectives and we can use our new abilities to solve mysteries, fight crime and do some real good in the world" Fred explained.

"Yes, in addition to helping people by solving mysteries you kids can really help mankind as well; just think of what this will mean" responded Vincent.

"Just so we're clear, there's no time limit on the transformations, like for example we won't get trapped in animal or creature form if are transformed for longer than two hours" Shaggy wondered.

"Correct Shaggy" Vincent replied.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, you said we can't tell anyone about our powers, why?" addressed Daphne.

"Because if anyone knew about your powers you would be in a lot of danger, people would try to kidnap each of you to figure out how your powers work or worse, that is why you must not tell anyone about your powers" responded Vincent.

"No problem we can keep them a secret, so now what do we Mr. Van Ghoul?" Fred asked.

"Well Fred, the first thing you kids have to do is find out where the thirteenth ghost is, track him down and capture him" Vincent explained.

"Don't worry Mr. Van Ghoul wherever he is and wherever he's hiding, we will capture him!" Velma declared.

"I hope so too kids, because if he isn't found and stopped soon I'm afraid that the entire world will suffer at the hands of this hideous specter and it will also mean the complete destruction of all mankind" Vincent explained.

The gang sat on the sofa shocked at Vincent Van Ghoul's statements, the fact that he was using terms like "Doom", "Destruction" and "Suffering" told Scooby and company that this was not unlike any other case they had ever encountered; the serious look on the great warlock's face showed Mystery Inc. that he meant business and it was up to the cowardly Great Dane and his teenage friends to stop the thirteenth ghost or the consequences would be dire.


	6. Chapter 6

After many years the mysterious warlock, who after helping Mystery Inc. with their capture of twelve of the thirteen ghosts from the infamous Chest of Demons had retired to his castle in the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal and led a simple life; all the while still thinking about the whereabouts of the final specter from the chest, now after several decades his worst nightmare has come true: the final and most dangerous phantom from the sinister chest is now roaming the Earth.

That is particularly the reason why the five members of Mystery Inc. were called to the mountainous eastern Asian country that Vincent Van Ghoul called home and as we check back in with Scooby and company they are still speaking with him to address their thoughts and concerns about the final ghost from the notorious box.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, where in the world should we start looking for this fiendish phantom? considering his possible powers and abilities, he could be anywhere" addressed Fred.

"Fred, I can tell you that I actually do know the whereabouts of the thirteenth ghost," Vincent explained.

"Fantastic Mr. Van Ghoul, where is he?" asked Daphne.

"According to my spectral radar and the news broadcasts that Flim Flam and I watched before you arrived, the ghost was last spotted somewhere in Europe" Vincent explained.

"Than Europe is where we're headed," Fred declared.

"Make sure to remember what I've told you Mystery Inc. and above all be very careful; you five don't know what this ghost is capable of, for all I know I might be sending you all to your doom and if that's the case then I wouldn't be able to forgive myself" Vincent explained, with a somber look on his face.

"Zoinks, like if we're doomed then I wash my hands of this whole adventure, let's go home!" Shaggy declared with an frightened look on his face; it was clear to the gang that he was ready to leave and take Scooby with him however Fred, Daphne and Velma knew they would need Shaggy and Scooby for this case and tried to persuade them to stay.

"Come on you two Mr. Van Ghoul needs our help to catch this ghost" Velma remarked.

"Yes and we have to help him otherwise he could destroy the Earth" Daphne added.

"Like OK, we'll stay with you guys and help you solve this mystery" Shaggy said with a look of disappointment on his face.

"Just think of what will happen after we catch this ghost you two, we'll be worldwide heroes," Velma explained.

"Yeah and they'll probably throw us banquets and parties, so if you guys want to chicken out go right ahead" Daphne said smiling.

"Banquets, what kind of banquets?" Shaggy wondered.

After speaking her mind Daphne gave a wink over to Fred and he began speaking to the two cowardly members of the group.

"Oh yeah, we'll probably get to eat plates and plates of food plus enough Scooby Snacks to make the two of you happy forever, but if you don't want to help us" Fred remarked.

"Like did we say we didn't want to come with you guys, we said we would love to track down this phantom right Scoob?" Shaggy asked looking over at his canine friend.

"Reah, ret's ro Rooby Roo!" Scooby howled.

"Good, I'm happy to hear the two of you are joining your friends in solving this case" Vincent said with a smile.

"Mr. Van Ghoul you can count on us to track down this fiendish specter" responded Daphne.

"Now, I need to tell you one more thing before the five of you leave here; I have some things that you will need while tracking down the thirteenth ghost, I shall go into another room and retrieve them" Vincent explained.

Vincent Van Ghoul walked out of the room and made his way towards a room that doubled as the storage area of the castle; he eventually reaches the room and opens the door, he enters and looks for the items he needs, then finds them and leaves the room locking the door behind him.

Vincent took the items and headed back towards the main hall of the castle; he walked over to a nearby table and places the items down.

"Here we are" he declared, showing the two items to Scooby and friends, after the gang finished perusing the objects he gave one of them each to Fred and Daphne.

The blond man and the redheaded woman curiously look at the two items for a few moments and wondered why the warlock had provided them with these objects.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, what exactly are these two items?" addressed Fred.

"Daphne would be more familiar with these than you Fred, however I will explain them to you as well as Daphne; this is a Crystal Ball and the Chest Of Demons, take them with you along with you on your journey, they will help you on your quest to capture the thirteenth ghost" Vincent explained.

"Oh I see what you mean Mr. Van Ghoul, thank you and hopefully we will be able to use these items on our quest" addressed Fred.

"Yes, with these items in our possession plus our newfound powers and all the electronic ghost hunting equipment in the Mystery Flying Machine and The Mystery Machine we'll have no problems in catching this ghost" Daphne responded.

The gang gathered the Crystal Ball and the Chest of Demons and prepared to leave Vincent Van Ghoul's temple on their way to track down the most elusive of the thirteen specters from the Demon Chest when the warlock decided to give them some words of encouragement.

"I wish all five of you good luck and safe travels, and with any luck you will return here and the thirteenth ghost will have been captured and locked up in the Demon Chest forever" Vincent said.

"You don't have to worry Mr. Van Ghoul, you can count on us" responded Fred.

"Yes before you know it we'll have returned safe and sound with the Demon Chest full and every last ghost accounted for," Daphne said with confidence.

"Now in addition to your powers and equipment, I will be in contact with you every so often to check up on you and see the investigation is progressing," Vincent explained.

"We look forward to hearing from you Mr. Van Ghoul, time to go gang and Vincent thank you for everything including our new powers" addressed Fred.

"I was glad to help Fred and good luck," responded Vincent.

Scooby and friends headed back up to the bedrooms upstairs, gathered up everything they had brought with them as well as the Crystal Ball and the Demon Chest, after double checking everything Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby said their goodbyes to Vincent Van Ghoul and Flim Flam.

The gang walked back out to The Mystery Machine and loaded everything into the back of the van, except for the Chest of Demons which Daphne holds and Vincent's Crystal Ball which Velma holds. Fred then started up the van and the vehicle left Vincent Van Ghoul's castle, and headed back through the Himalayan mountain roads towards the remote airfield where the Mystery Flying Machine awaits, after arriving at the airfield the gang loaded everything back into the plane including the Mystery Machine as well as the Demon Chest and the Crystal Ball which both stay in the main cockpit where Velma and Daphne keep a close watch on each of the two items.

After each and every item has been loaded onto the plane and permission is given for Scooby and the gang to take off, the large crimson and black aircraft moves down the runway and climbs into the air some ten or twenty thousand feet as Scooby and friends prepare to face one of the biggest challenges of their crime fighting careers, the thirteenth ghost from the Chest Of Demons.


	7. Chapter 7

The Mystery Flying Machine coasts through the skies above Western Asia when the Crystal Ball Velma is holding begins to glow, the chestnut haired young woman sets the Crystal down as she notices that a holographic picture of the group's magical friend Vincent Van Ghoul is being projected into the plane.

"What's up Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Daphne, as the red head spoke the gang's attention had now shifted to the image of the great warlock.

"Flim Flam and I have been looking over our spectral radar equipment here in the castle and I believe we have a fix on the location of the thirteenth ghost" Vincent explained.

"That's good news, do you know of his exact location?" Velma asked.

"Like if Mr. Van Ghoul's found the location of the final ghost from the chest, that's not good news, its bad news right Scoob?" Shaggy said with a gulp.

"Reah, really rad rews" Scooby added.

"Knock it off guys, go ahead and continue Mr. Van Ghoul" Velma said scolding her cowardly friends as she tried to get the conversation back on track.

"According to our GPS system and spectral radar, there's a large convergence of paranormal activity in Western Russia" Vincent explained, still with a serious look on his face.

"Do you think this is Rangor's work?" addressed Daphne.

"A feeling in my bones tells me it's certainly possible Daphne" Vincent responded.

"Do you think we should check it out?" Velma wondered.

"Well there's always a small chance that it could be a false alarm, however I have a weird feeling that this is indeed the work of the thirteen ghost"; "Hmm, maybe you five should check this out; after all, this has been one of the first leads that I've been able to give you" Vincent explained.

"Sounds good, then we'll head for Russia right away" Fred responded.

"Good luck my friends and be careful" Vincent remarked.

Vincent Van Ghoul's picture then disappeared from the crystal and the device's glow flickered and then turned off.

Velma went over to the Mystery Flying Machine's radar system and changed the plane's course; with ease Fred turned the aircraft's controls to the left, in doing so the plane's direction changed slightly and the aircraft started it's journey towards Europe and a showdown with the final specter from the dreaded Chest of Demons.

The large crimson aircraft continued to soar through the European skies, when suddenly Daphne looked over and noticed a strong beeping sound coming from the plane's radar equipment.

"Fred, we're getting something on the plane's specter detector" Daphne explained.

"Hmm, we must be getting close to location of the thirteenth ghost" Fred responded.

"Shall we begin our decent?" Velma asked.

"That's a good idea Velma, I'll start our decent immediately; everybody buckle up and fasten your seatbelts" Fred remarked.

Fred begins to guide the large Crimson and Black aircraft down towards the gang's destination, after some time the aircraft finishes it's descent and lands at an airfield in somewhere in Western Russia; the gang took their luggage along with the Crystal Ball that Vincent gave them and the Chest of Demons then departed the aircraft.

Scooby and friends made sure that they had taken everything off the aircraft for their stay and make sure everything is in order before Fred and the rest of the gang loaded everything into The Mystery Machine.

Fred made sure everyone and everything is in the van, after which Fred guided the vehicle out the back of the aircraft and onto the grounds of the airfield; the Mystery Machine headed through the open gates of the airfield and eventually onto a quaint country road flanked by trees, branches and miles of farmland, about a few hours into their journey Daphne checked the van's GPS system and lets Fred know of their position.

"Fred, according to this we're about five minutes outside of a town called Kedifion," the red head explained.

"Sounds good, after we get into town we should probably check into a hotel in town and then speak to Vincent in the morning" Fred replied.

The gang heads into the small town of Kedifion past several buildings housing small hotels, shops, restaurants and many other businesses; eventually the gang found a motel to stay in during their stay and the Mystery Machine parked in a small lot outside the hotel; the four teenage sleuths and Scooby Doo departed the van and walked inside, up to the front desk's lobby to check in; the hotel is a fairly medium size one comparable to a Ramada Inn or a Motel 6 in the United States, the four teenagers and their Great Dane marveled at the inside of the hotel and how nice it looked compared to some of the hotels they had stayed at in the past.

"Wonder if anyone's here?" Fred questioned.

Hearing Fred's voice a man of medium build and height walked over to the front desk from another area in the lobby.

"Can I help you?" asked the man, he had brown hair and looked to be approximately in his mid 40's; the man is also wearing a blue striped tie, a white and blue striped shirt and black shoes with white socks.

"My name is Mr. Karptian the hotel manager, what can I do for you?" said the man in a friendly but professional manner.

"My name is Fred, this is Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo, we were wondering if we could get a couple of rooms for a couple of nights?" Fred asked.

"Certainly" responds the desk clerk; "now exactly how many rooms would you like?" he asked.

"Two ought to do it, preferably ground floor," responded Fred.

"Very Well, two ground floor rooms, rooms 14 & 15" the clerk declared.

Fred paid the desk clerk for the rooms, after Fred is done paying for the rooms the clerk looked for two room keys and after finding them, hands them to the leader of Mystery Inc.

"Here are your two keys kids," he says.

"Thank you sir" responded Fred.

"Oh and a word of warning" the clerk said; "There have been several ghost sightings in the area so if I were you kids I would be very careful" he continued.

"Thank You for the warning sir, we'll keep it mind," responded Fred.

"Also, whatever business you have to take care of here in town I would suggest taking care of it very quickly," said the desk clerk.

"Why?" asked Daphne.

"Because this ghost seems to be quite powerful and he could be very dangerous" responded the desk clerk.

"Don't worry about us sir, we happen to be expert ghost chasing mystery solvers" said Velma.

"Just be very careful anyway," warned the clerk.

"We will," responds Fred as he and the rest of the gang headed to their respective rooms.

"He was nice," said Daphne.

"Like not to mention a bit scary" responded Shaggy with a gulp.

"Reah rary" Scooby added.

"Oh don't worry you guys, he's probably harmless" responded Fred.

Scooby and the gang walked through the lobby and into a hallway filled with numbered doors, finally the gang found their rooms.

"Here we go rooms 14 and 15" Fred declared.

Fred gave one key to Daphne and kept one key for himself as the gang open their respective rooms.

Fred, Shaggy and Scooby go into room number 14, while Daphne and Velma entered room number 15, after settling in and putting their luggage away Daphne unpacks the Chest of Demons and Vincent's Crystal Ball; she puts the chest away in a closet in the room and the Crystal Ball on a table in the room.

After making sure the Chest and Crystal were hidden away where no one would see them, Daphne and Velma sat down on their respective beds and each gave a relaxing sigh as both of them were clearly pleased that they had some downtime to themselves without having to worry about ghosts.

"Phew, I don't know about you Velma, but I'm sure glad to be in a nice soft bed inside a nice safe hotel room" Daphne remarked calmly.

"I agree with that, for once we get to stay in a hotel and not have to worry about running into a creepy phantom, ghost or spook" Velma responded.

"For now at least" the redhead added.

"Right, pretty soon we'll have to start thinking about tracking down and capturing Rangor" the intelligent brown haired sleuth responded.

"Do you think we'll really be able to catch him?" Daphne wondered.

"I'm positive that we'll catch him Daphne, I'm positive," Velma declared.

Meanwhile Shaggy, Scooby Doo and Fred were discussing similar matters; the cowardly Great Dane sleeps at the foot of one of the beds as Fred and Shaggy sit at a small table inside their room.

"Shaggy?" Fred asked.

"Like what's up?" the cowardly sleuth replied.

"There's something I've been curious about ever since we got the phone call from Vincent Van Ghoul" the blond detective remarked.

"Like what?" Shaggy replied.

"How did you guys meet Vincent Van Ghoul and Flim Flam anyway, and what was it like when you, Daphne, Scrappy and Scooby were solving mysteries while Velma and I were in college" questioned Fred.

"I'm glad you asked Fred, basically when me, Daph, Scooby and Scrappy were solving cases it was just like the old days of Mystery Inc., we traveled the world unmasking crooks and busting ghosts; in fact Daphne and Scrappy were pretty much just like what you and Velma were back when we were all together, Daphne was always the leader trying to put together the clues, making plans and trying to keep Scooby and me from splitting; Scrappy was as intelligent as Daphne, he would always come up with these crazy inventions to get us out of jams and he sure was a great sleuth, in fact you might say it was like we never missed a beat" Shaggy explained.

"So Mystery Inc. went on and was pretty successful even without Velma and me?" Fred asked somewhat surprised at what Shaggy had told him.

"Yep, those sure were fun times and I wouldn't have traded them for anything" the cowardly sleuth said closing his eyes for a few seconds, remembering back to the days when the world famous detective agency only had four members.

"OK so what about Vincent Van Ghoul and the Chest of Demons?" the blond sleuth asked.

"Well that whole thing got started during one of our various vacations; we were flying our plane The Mystery Flying Machine to Hawaii when we got a bid sidetracked" Shaggy replied.

"Let me guess Shaggy, you guys thought you were flying over the Hawaiian Islands when you were really flying over the Himalayan Mountains right?" Fred asked, chuckling a little.

"How did you guess what happened?" the cowardly teen asked.

"Just a lucky guess, keep talking Shag I want to hear more of this" the blond teenager replied.

"Alright, well something had drained our fuel tanks so we had to make a crash landing and after we landed we picked up a hitchhiker" Shaggy continued.

"Flim Flam right?" Fred wondered.

"Right, like after all that happened we were led from the plane into a small courthouse in this village; they said we had crashed in a no crashing zone and harboring as they put it that Riff Raff" the cowardly teen continued.

"Riff Raff? Flim Flam didn't seem that bad when Velma and I first met him" Fred replied with a confused look on his face.

"I know, but I guess the citizens of the village didn't enjoy him being there; anyways after that we put on trial but the judge was lenient, he just wanted us to get out of town before nightfall with or without our plane" Shaggy explained.

"Why would they want you to get out of town by nightfall?" Fred wondered.

"That comes into our first meeting with Vincent Van Ghoul, Flim Flam told us that he had a mystic friend who might know where the aircraft was and sure enough he knew exactly where it was" Shaggy replied.

"So then you took the plane and left?" the blond teenager asked.

"Not yet because the townspeople wouldn't let us leave town" Shaggy responded.

"OK, first they wanted you to leave and then they didn't want you to leave, I'm getting a bit confused by this story" the blond sleuth commented while holding his head.

"Well the reason why they wouldn't let us leave is because as we would later learn the townspeople were cursed by the thirteen most evil spirits from a demonic container known as the Chest of Demons to become werewolves every night, which is why they wanted to scare us off so we wouldn't learn the truth, and oh yeah did I mention Daphne became one as well" the cowardly sleuth replied.

"No Shaggy, I think you left that detail out; what exactly happened to turn Daph into a Werewolf?" Fred wondered, now quite curious as to why his redheaded companion was at least temporarily a snarling beast.

"We were provided with some refreshments which turned out to be glasses of freshly squeezed wolfs bane, Daphne then drank one and became a werewolf; but luckily Flim Flam had some of his Lotsa Luck Joy Juice available to change Daphne back to normal and to also change the townspeople back to normal; after that we left with the townspersons quite greatful to us for releasing them from their horrible curse" Shaggy explained.

"Man what a story, so how did the Chest of Demons get opened?" the blond man wondered.

"After Daphne got turned back to normal we split up to escape from the werewolves, eventually Scooby and I found ourselves in an old temple of some kind; but we didn't know the Chest of Demons was in it, what happened was two ghosts tricked us into the releasing the ghosts from their confinement" Shaggy explained.

"How on Earth did they do that?" Fred wondered.

"They tricked us by making us think we were on a game show" the cowardly teen replied.

"A Game Show? In the Himalayas? that certainly sounds fishy" Fred commented.

"Hey these ghosts were pretty tricky, in fact they plagued us for who knows how long during our journey to capture the thirteen ghosts" Shaggy responded.

"Makes sense I suppose, now there's one more thing I'm curious about; did you and Daphne ever you know, date or anything like that when it was just the four of you?" the blond teen asked.

"Of course not, although once when we went to Daphne's parents house for a Masquerade Party and I dressed like a Knight; Mr. and Mrs. Blake even called me a Knight in Shining Armor if you can believe that" Shaggy explained.

"Well, I remember from when the five of us were together Daphne seemed to really enjoy your company a lot" Fred responded.

"But there's no way I would try and move in on her or anything like that, I know you and Daphne really like each other and I probably wouldn't have a chance anyway" Shaggy replied.

"Thanks Shaggy, you're a good person and can be really brave when you want to be plus if you and Daphne ever got together I would be supportive; besides I always thought well, you and Velma had something going" Fred remarked.

"Me and Velma? Well I do consider her to be a very close friend but I don't know if I would consider getting together with her as boyfriend and girlfriend, although you never know what could happen in the future" the cowardly sleuth replied smiling.

"Shaggy my friend if Daphne and I can be a couple then you and Velma can be a couple as well, I would totally support you two in your relationship if you two were to get together" the blond man responded with a smile.

"You know now that I told you about our adventures without you and Velma, there's one thing that I've always been wondering" Shaggy remarked.

"What's that?" Fred replied.

"Sometimes I thought you and Velma would get together, in fact there were a few times I thought you and Vel were perfect for each other" the cowardly teen wondered.

"Wait you thought me and Velma were interested in each other? Probably because of the fact that we were both interested in solving mysteries right?" the blond sleuth asked.

"Sure, what other reason would you split up with her and Daphne all the time" the cowardly sleuth replied.

"Nah, Velma's a good person and very intelligent but to tell you the truth I've always been more interested in Daphne" Fred explained.

"Exactly, Daphne's a good person and very beautiful but I've always been more interested in Velma" Shaggy replied.

"Thanks for putting things into perspective Shaggy, you know I always thought of you and Scooby as brothers, now that we've had a chance to chat I think we have a lot in common" the blond teen remarked.

"No problem Fred and thanks for doing the same for me, I always thought of you as a brother too, plus I thought I we had a lot in common too" the cowardly sleuth responded smiling.

During the last few minutes the cowardly sleuth and the brave unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. who originally thought they were polar opposites found out they had plenty of common interests and found out a lot about each other as they chatted.

The two sleuths decided to head over to their respective beds and get some well-earned and well-needed rest.

After a few hours and a nap, Fred woke up Shaggy and Scooby and walked over to the girls' room; the two female members of Mystery Inc. had been awake fro a half an hour when they heard a knock on their door.

"Who is it?" asked Daphne.

"It's Fred, are you girls awake?" the blond teen replied.

"Yes Velma and I are awake, hang on I'll walk over to the door and open it up for you" the redhead commented.

Daphne opened the door and saw Fred standing in the hallway.

"Come on in Freddie, what's up?" asks Daphne as she invited the blond sleuth inside the room.

"Daphne, I think it would be a good idea to contact Mr. Van Ghoul and let him know where we are," Fred explained.

"Sounds like a good idea Fred, I've got the Crystal Ball that he gave us in the closet so should I retrieve and we could stay in here to contact him, or should I retrieve it and walk over to your room?" the redhead sleuth asked.

"Well since you and Velma have the Crystal Ball, we should meet in here," the blond teen explained.

"Sounds good to me Freddie" Daphne responded.

Fred walked the short distance back to his room and retrieved Shaggy and Scooby, while Daphne told Velma of Fred's idea, the intelligent brown haired sleuth agreed and waited with Daphne in their room.

Fred, Shaggy and Scooby then walked across the hallway to the girls room, after arriving in front of their door Fred knocked on the door and Daphne knowing who it was answered.

"Hi Daphne" Fred said before giving Daphne a hug.

"Jeepers, that was unexpected" the red head remarked.

"I was just in a friendly mood, plus I'm glad to see your ok and that nothing happened to you," the blond sleuth explained.

"I don't understand, what would happen to me in a locked hotel room with Velma in here as well" Daphne wondered.

"I don't know, maybe one of the thirteen ghosts from the Demon Chest would have escaped and tried to destroy you or something" the blond teen replied.

"Freddie, this is really unexpected; I never knew you had such a sensitive side, you really care about me don't you?" the redhead asked with a friendly smile on her face.

"Of course I do Daph, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you just like I'm sure you wouldn't want anything to happen to me" the blond man replied.

"Thank You Freddie, now I think we should get to contacting Mr. Van Ghoul; he'll probably wonder what's going on" the redhead explained.

"You're right Daphne, it's time to get down to business" Fred declared.

The gang sat around the table in the girls' room, which is where Daphne placed Vincent's Crystal Ball, Fred placed his hands on top of the Crystal Ball and began to speak.

"Calling Vincent Van Ghoul, come in Vincent" Fred said.

For a moment the blond sleuth took his hands off the crystal as it began to glow, the crystal ball then projected a holographic image of Vincent Van Ghoul into the gang's hotel room.

"Vincent?" addressed Fred as he looked over to the holographic image.

"Yes Fred it's me, what's going on?" responded Vincent.

"We just wanted to let you know we've arrived in Russia, and that we're staying in a hotel in the town of Kedifion," explained Fred.

"Good, have you seen or encountered the thirteenth ghost yet?" Vincent wondered.

"None so far, however the desk clerk here at the hotel told us that there have been several ghost sightings in the area," Fred explained.

"Hmm…interesting" Vincent replied.

"Why is that Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Fred.

"Well I have checked my instruments and the thirteenth ghost is somewhere in your general area" explained Vincent.

"You're kidding" Shaggy remarked nervously.

"Reah ridding" Scooby added.

"I'm afraid I'm not, Rangor is somewhere in or around the small town that you presently staying in" Vincent explained.

"Do you think there's a connection between what the desk clerk told us and the fact that your equipment gave the indication that Rangor is nearby?" addressed Velma.

"Velma, if I'm not mistaken there is a connection between the two events" Vincent replied.

"So now that we have a clue as to his whereabouts what should we do about Rangor" asked Fred.

"Well first, I'm glad you all checked in with me, second get settled in and make sure you have everything that you need, then third after a good night sleep begin your search for Rangor; I want you rested and ready to find that ghost!" Vincent declared.

"Right Mr. Van Ghoul, we'll do just that," responded Fred.

"Good, I have to get back to my duties here, but keep me posted as to your progress" Vincent explained.

"No problem Mr. Van Ghoul and we will" addressed Velma.

"Goodbye and Good Luck everyone" Vincent responded.

Vincent's picture fades from the crystal ball as it flickered off, after discussing their plan of action and what they should do the next day Fred, Shaggy and Scooby returned to their room while Daphne and Velma stayed in their room, later the gang went out for dinner after which they returned to their hotel to relax and get a good nights sleep as Vincent suggested.

However the next day they would have to return to ghost chasing, particularly tracking down the most dangerous phantom they had ever encountered: the final ghost from the Chest of Demons.


	8. Chapter 8

The morning sun shined through the hotel window as Fred awoke from his sleep yawning and stretching, he walked over to Shaggy and Scooby and attempted to wake them from their slumber, however the sunlight had already caused the cowardly pair to awaken; the two friends and Fred walked over to a large table in the room and discussed the previous day's events over breakfast.

"Brother, what a night; I barely slept at all" Shaggy commented, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Reah, rhat a restless right" Scooby added.

"Come on you two, I would think after the haunted houses we've stayed in that you two would get a full night's sleep for at least one night" Fred remarked.

"Like it's not that, it's just this whole Rangor thing; this is the most powerful of the thirteen ghosts from the Demon Chest we're trying to catch, all last night I was dreading about what would happen if we didn't catch this creep" Shaggy said, looking quite nervous.

"Shag, after all the ghosts you and Scooby have faced I would think you would be brave in facing this one, although…" Fred replied.

"Although what?" Shaggy said with some concern in his voice.

"I guess after dealing with Maldor, Time Slime and some of the other phantoms and specters from that chest I would be afraid too; just try not to worry about it, we've been through worse and we've always come through alright" Fred replied.

"You're right, I guess there are worse things to worry about" Shaggy said quite relieved.

"Come on you two let's finish eating and pick up the girls" Fred explained.

After getting ready to go for the day and getting dressed, Fred and Shaggy took Scooby and walked over to Daphne and Velma's room; meanwhile in their room, the girls were discussing the events of their adventure thus far.

"Daphne?" Velma questioned.

"What's up Velma?" the redheaded sleuth asked.

"After all those years of solving mysteries and dealing with ghosts and monsters of all kinds, I think for the first time ever I'm actually afraid of a villain; I mean sure all those other times I was afraid of the supernatural creatures we've faced but I always knew they were fake, but this time the ghost is truly real and truly frightening" the intelligent brown haired girl explained.

"Velma, I'm kind of surprised to hear you say that; although I felt the same way you did during the time Shaggy, Scooby, Scrappy, Flim Flam and I spent tracking down those ghosts from the Chest of Demons; after all the mysteries we've solved I was never really afraid of any of those ghosts or monsters but those twelve phantoms had something any of the other villains we've faced never had" the redhead replied.

"What's that Daphne?" the brown haired girl wondered.

"This ghost has the power to rule or destroy the world, and from what Vincent told us he's going to use it unless we catch him and catch him soon" the redhead replied.

"You know something Daphne" the brown haired girl remarked.

"What's that Velma?" the redhead sleuth replied.

"I never realized that a ghost could have that much power until you, Shaggy and Scooby told us about the Demon Chest; once I saw that horrible container for the first time I knew that what you had said was true, that box must have the most dreadful contents of any container in history, in fact it's kind of like a modern day Pandora's Box" the brown haired girl explained.

"Pandora's Box? I don't think I've ever heard of that piece of history" the redhead replied scratching her head.

"You haven't? Well the best way I could describe it is what I previously said; basically Pandora's box was supposed to contain all of the evil and wickedness in the world and if it was ever opened all the contents of the box would be released and mankind would suffer greatly in the process," Velma explained.

"Jeepers, that does sound like the Chest of Demons; although I guess our situation is much different from Pandora's Box" Daphne replied.

"Why's that?" the brown haired girl wondered.

"Well, the evils in Pandora's Box didn't take physical forms did they?" the redhead asked.

"No of course not, oh I see; the ghosts in the Chest of Demons are and were physical beings so they would be more dangerous then any of the contents in Pandora's Box" the brown haired girl replied.

"Right, and pretty soon the tale of the modern day Pandora's Box will be complete" Daphne declared.

"I sure hope it will be Daphne, I sure hope it will be" Velma responded.

Velma and Daphne sat at a table in their bedroom waiting for Shaggy, Scooby and Fred to pick them up.

After a few minutes the redhead heard a knock at her bedroom door; she realized that maybe her friends were at the door and walked over to it.

"Who is it?" Daphne wondered.

"It's me Fred, are you ready and Velma ready to go?" the blond teen asked.

"Just about, we should be ready in a few seconds" the redhead responded.

The two girls finished getting ready and retrieved Vincent's Crystal Ball and The Chest of Demons, then opened their door and joined Fred, Shaggy and Scooby in the hallway.

The gang walked through the long hallway, out a side door and into the parking lot to where The Mystery Machine was parked; the gang then entered the van with the Crystal Ball and Chest of Demons in tow and drove into town in search of Rangor: the most powerful of the 13 ghosts from the Demon Chest.

"I wonder where in town we should our search" Daphne wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure Daphne, but I guess one place is as good as another" Fred stated.

The blond teenager drove on guiding the Mystery Machine through the streets of the quaint European village; as the gang looked out the windows of the van at the streets and the various buildings it reminded them of all the towns back in the United States that were built and founded originally by European settlers who had brought some of the culture and traditions of their home countries to their new homes.

After some time Daphne's attention was suddenly diverted as she noticed something outside her passengers side window.

"Fred, look out there I think I saw something," Daphne said pointing out her side of the van.

"What in particular did you see?" Fred replied.

"I-I don't know for sure, it looked like a large shadow almost transparent" Daphne explained.

"Hmm, Daphne something tells me I think you may have spotted Rangor" Fred replied.

"Jeepers, I don't know I should be proud of myself or not" Daphne commented.

"Like you probably shouldn't Daphne" Shaggy chimed in.

"Come on Shaggy" Fred replied sounding impatient.

"Gang, if that's really Rangor maybe we should park the Mystery Machine and start investigating" Velma commented.

"Velma that might be a good idea, we'll do just that" addressed Fred.

Fred drives the green and blue pastel colored van into the center of town and finds a parking space; the gang with the Chest of Demons and Crystal Ball in tow exited the van and walked out onto the town square.

"Before we start our investigation, let's examine what clues we have so far about the ghost, first off we know he's somewhere in town" Fred begins.

"Second, Vincent showed us exactly what he looks like" Daphne continued.

"We know exactly what he's capable of and that he is quite dangerous, so we should handle him with great caution" Velma remarked.

"I know one thing, if the real Rangor is anything like his picture; he's sure one scary phantom" Shaggy replied.

"Right Raggy" Scooby responded.

"Knock it off you two, we have to get serious about finding that spook" Velma scolded them.

"Like we're sorry Velma" the cowardly sleuth replied.

"Reah re ridn't rean ranything ry it" Scooby added.

"That's ok you two, don't worry about it; I guess I'm kind of afraid too" Velma explained.

"Like why would you be afraid Velma?" the lanky teenager asked.

"Well, because if we're not careful he could destroy us all and that would be something to be scared of" the brown haired girl replied.

"I can sure agree with that Velma, I sure agree" Shaggy explained.

"Well, now that we've examined the clues we should figure out a plan to capture that apparition" Daphne said.

"And I think I have one that I think will work" Fred commented.

"What is it Fred?" the redhead asked.

"If we start combing the village for Rangor, we might be able to flush him out of hiding and then once he's out in the open we can capture him" Fred explained.

"Like groovy idea Fred, but how do you want to comb the village; with a part in the middle or to one side?" Shaggy laughed.

"Very funny Shaggy, very funny" Velma replied, clearly not amused.

"If you two would quit clowning, I can explain how we're going to go about our investigation" Fred remarked, attempting to get the conversation back on track.

"Sorry Fred, I was only trying to inject some humor into a scary situation" Shaggy replied.

"Don't worry about it Shaggy" Fred responded.

"So Fred how are we going to go about our investigation?" the brown haired sleuth asked.

"Here's what I was thinking, Daphne and I will search in one direction while Velma you Shaggy and Scooby search another direction, OK?" Fred explained.

"Sounds good to me Fred, let's get going" responded Velma.

With that Fred and Daphne headed off in the direction of a group of ancient buildings in the distance while Velma, Shaggy and Scooby decided to investigate the buildings in the town square area; the young redheaded girl and the blond teenage young man headed off to began their search hoping that they wouldn't have a run in with their ghastly enemy.

Being detectives the two teenage sleuths seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to danger and running into ghosts or monsters when they didn't want to run into them; for now it seemed as if the pair were safe from any jeopardy but soon they would both be proven quite wrong.

After a few minutes of silence the redheaded female sleuth began to whistle quietly to take her minds of her troubles; as her whistling got a little louder, the blond teenager decided to speak up.

"Daphne?" Fred asked.

"What's up Freddie?" the redhead replied.

"Considering I wasn't around, do you think I would have helped you guys out with the Demon Chest?" the blond man wondered.

"Absolutely Freddie, with you around those ghosts wouldn't have stood a chance" the redhead replied.

"Thanks Daphne, I really appreciate that especially when you say it" the blond teenager remarked blushing.

"You're welcome Freddie, you know while we're walking and since we haven't seen that ghost yet there's something that's been bugging me for the longest time" the redheaded sleuth commented.

"Well tell me exactly what it is and I'll try and do my best to help you out" the blond teenager replied.

"Okay if you insist, the five of us have been solving mysteries for who knows how many years but there's one mystery that's been left unsolved for the longest time; I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about Freddie" the redhead commented, with hands on hips and impatient tone in her voice.

"I figured this would come up sooner or later and I do know what you're talking about; the mystery as you called it is why when I pair us off, why do I always go with you, right?" the blond teen asked.

"That's right" the redhead replied coyly.

"After all this time and all these years it's come to this, I finally have to admit the biggest secret I've ever kept from anyone; Daphne, the reason why I always want to split up with you all the time during every mystery is very simple: I've always wanted to spend as much time with you as possible, getting to know you, your habits, your wants, everything; and the reason why I've wanted to do all that is because I love you, I always have and always will but if you don't understand then that's fine with me" the blond teen explained, he breathed of relief as he finished telling his companion how he really felt about her.

"I knew it, all this time I've been waiting and I finally got it out of you; that time in Oak Haven before the Hex Girls showed up you were going to tell me you loved me right?" the redhead asked smiling.

"Yes I was going to, to tell you the truth I've been wanting to do this for along time but I never got a chance to tell you how I really felt" the blond man replied.

"Well Freddie to tell you the truth, I've felt the same way about you forever and deep down I always knew you felt the same way about me" the redhead responded smiling.

"Thank You Daphne, you're the most beautiful girl in the world and no one can and ever will come between us" the blond sleuth replied.

"So Freddie, all those times when I was attracted to other guys you were somewhat jealous of them right?" the redhead asked.

"Yeah I guess I could say that I was jealous, but what about all those times I was attracted to other girls, were you jealous of them too?" the blond sleuth replied.

"Actually, yes Freddie I was jealous of those girls, plus you're the most handsome guy in the world and no one will ever change that; by the way I'm kind of curious as to why you would reveal your feelings for me here and now?" the redhead wondered.

"Well with the thirteenth ghost running around there's a good chance we might not come out of this alive so just in case I wanted to tell you how I felt" the blond man responded.

"You know if that really is the case and we really don't come out of this alive I guess it was time I told you just how I felt about you too Freddie" the redhead replied.

"Well since that's all taken care of let's continue with our investigation" Fred explained.

"Right Freddie, I just hope we can flush that ghost out of hiding before he gets away form us forever" Daphne responded.

The two teenage sleuths continued walking through the quaint village passing various automobiles, a few small houses and a few miscellaneous shops; the young red haired detective marveled at the beauty of the small town, she thought of some of the small towns in the gang's home state of Ohio and how this town looked a little like Coolsville.

"Freddie?" the redhead asked.

"Yes Daphne?" the blond man replied.

"This is certainly a beautiful little village isn't it?" the redhead wondered.

"Yeah it is pretty nice isn't it, there's just one thing wrong with it" Fred noted.

"What's that Freddie?" the redhead asked.

"I'm getting the weirdest feeling that someone or something is watching us," the blond teenager explained.

"I don't know Freddie, I'm just not getting that feeling and usually I'm the one who gets these types of feelings" the redhead detective replied.

"Maybe you're right Daphne, maybe I'm just crazy," the blond man noted.

As the pair of sleuths resumed walking they could feel a slight chill in the air; even though the redheaded girl and the blond man were wearing jackets they still felt somewhat cold considering that the temperature had dropped twenty degrees since they began walking.

Fred and Daphne shivered not only because they were chilly but also because the felt like they were walking in a Cemetery in the dark of night; suddenly the pair froze in their tracks as they saw a strange green glow beginning to take shape right before their very eyes; the two huddled close, clinging to each other both for dear life and protection.

"Daphne, look!" exclaimed Fred.

"I see it, I see it!" Daphne said with a gasp.

Suddenly the strange green glow that Fred and Daphne see began taking the shape of a large shadowy transparent being; the two sleuths looked on in sheer terror as the apparition became a figure that the pair of teenage detectives had seen before.

"Jeepers, unless I'm mistaken that must be Rangor!" Daphne shrieked.

"You're right Daphne, I recognize his picture from Vincent's book" Fred responded.

The thirteenth and final ghost from the Chest not only being the most powerful, also had excellent hearing and had overheard the pair's conversation, especially the part about Vincent Van Ghoul.

"So, the great and powerful warlock Vincent Van Ghoul has sent mere children to stop me, Rangor the most powerful ghost on the planet!" the specter taunted.

"Correct Rangor, my name is Fred, and this is Daphne; Velma, Shaggy and Scooby are searching another part of town and all of us are quite aware of what you're capable of" Fred declared.

"Did you mere children really expect to defeat me?" Rangor taunted, smirking evilly.

"Yes and not only did Vincent Van Ghoul send us to stop you but he also gave the five of us some help," responded Fred.

"Help? What possible help could Vincent give you that could defeat me?" Rangor taunted.

"This" responded Fred; the two sleuths now stood as still as statues.

"What's going on here, what is this?" Rangor hissed.

"What's going on is how we're going to stop you!" Fred declared.

Suddenly Fred could feel himself slowly changing, his face became covered in brown fur and the cloth that made up both his white shirt and orange ascot began unraveling, his pants and shoes began tearing apart as well, meanwhile Daphne could also feel herself transforming; her face begin to change shape and she grew coarse brown fur as well, in addition to that her dress began tearing apart at the seams as the purple cloth that made up her outfit unraveled, finally Fred and Daphne finished their transformation, they had both chosen to become Cat Creatures.

"No, it is not possible, these mere pathetic children have become monsters, but how?" Rangor wondered with some surprise in his voice.

"Yes Rangor, Vincent Van Ghoul gave us the power to transform into animals and creatures in order to track you down and put you in the Demon Chest where you won't do anyone any harm ever again" responded Fred with a feline hiss to his voice.

"Vincent chose the five of us mere children as you put it because he knew that we could stop you and we will stop you!" Daphne declared with a feline his in her voice as well.

"You kids may have the power to stop me but you will not stop me and neither will Vincent Van Ghoul!" Rangor declared as he disappeared into thin air.

The small village became deftly silent once again; Fred and Daphne realized they didn't need to stay as Cat Creatures and quickly returned back to their natural forms.

"That was certainly a strange experience," Daphne said.

"Daphne it may be weird but hopefully it gives us a major advantage over Rangor" the blond teen explained.

"Freddie, you think maybe it would be a good idea if we find Velma, Shaggy and Scooby?" the redhead asked.

"Good thinking Daph, originally I thought we would stand a better chance if we split up into two teams but now that we've seen what that ghost looks like and what he's capable of I truly believe we should stick together" the blond teen replied.

"Freddie?" the redhead asked.

"Yes Daphne?" the blond man replied smiling.

"I think we make a great team don't you?" the redhead stated with a smile.

"I think so too Daphne, I think so too" the blond teen replied back smiling.

The two teenage investigators headed for a rendezvous with their friends all the while keeping their eyes and ears open just in case the thirteenth phantom from the dreaded Chest of Demons returned to rear his horrible face.


	9. Chapter 9

After their first encounter with the thirteenth ghost Fred and Daphne walked towards the center of town to meet with their friends; while this was going on Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were heading in the opposite direction.

"Velma?" the lanky teenager asked.

"Yes Shaggy" the young brown haired girl responded.

"I hope we can catch this ghost" the cowardly teen replied.

"What makes you say that Shaggy?" the intelligent brown haired girl wondered.

"Well, when Daphne, Scooby, Scrappy, Flim Flam and I tracked down the first twelve ghosts there were a lot of them that were really powerful, some of them I thought were really tough to capture, there were even a few times I thought we would never capture all those phantoms" the cowardly teen explained with some worry in his voice.

"Shaggy I fully understand that the ghosts from the Demon Chest were quite powerful, but that was then and this is now, you four were able to capture each and every ghost you went up against; now Fred and I here plus Scooby, Daphne and you have always been around, believe me Shaggy we've been able to handle any mystery we come across and this one won't be any different" the intelligent female detective explained to him.

"That's just the thing Velma, what if we can't solve this mystery, what if Rangor defeats us? What if something happens to you, Daphne, Fred and Scooby? If something did happen to you, I don't know if I could forgive myself" Shaggy replied sounding quite afraid, as his female companion looked over at him she knew that this time was different from the hundreds of previous mysteries that gang had solved; every other time during a mystery Shaggy had been afraid of whatever ghost or spook the group faced, but this time he didn't seem to be afraid of the ghost; the green shirted teenager seemed to be more afraid of losing his friends in the midst of capturing Rangor than of the specter, and he knew very well the ramifications of facing such a powerful foe; mainly a horrible fate not only for the world but also for himself, that fate being life without his four best friends in the world.

Suddenly the cowardly teen could feel a hand on his shoulder, he looked over and saw Velma standing there attempting to comfort him; she had always been there for him and was always able to shine light upon even the darkest situation.

"Shaggy, I know what you must be going through right now; after facing who knows how many creepy situations like the ones we've faced over the years the five of us have I formed a pretty special bond as friends and you're afraid that bond might be broken if we face Rangor and lose, well Shaggy I can tell you know that we won't lose, and we'll always be friends" the female sleuth calmly explained.

"Velma, all these years you've been the most logical person I've ever met; being able to give a simple rational explanation for whatever frightening or scary situation we ran up against, I guess maybe that's the reason why I've loved you for many years now" the lanky teenager replied scratching the back of his head as he spoke.

"You what?" the intelligent female sleuth asked, looking surprised that her friend would say such a thing.

"I-I love you, and I fully understand if you don't feel the same way; I step on your feet whenever we dance, I'm a complete coward, no to mention…" the lanky teenager started to explain before Velma put up her hand.

"Shaggy, to tell you the truth I really don't care about those things; it doesn't matter if you're a coward, it doesn't matter if you eat a lot, all that matters is that I love you too besides a lot of couples have differences, that's what makes romance and dating all the more exciting; however there's one thing I'm confused about" the intelligent female sleuth replied.

"What's that Velma?" the cowardly teen asked.

"Why all of a sudden did you want to tell me how you really felt about me?" the female teen sleuth wondered.

"If Rangor does defeat us and something bad does happen, I wanted to tell you how I felt just in case we don't come out of this alive," the cowardly teen explained.

"Shaggy, I'm taken aback by your statement; we've been through mysteries that were a thousand times worse than this and we always come through with flying colors" the female sleuth replied.

"Thanks Velma, like I said before you're always there to brighten up a dark situation" the cowardly teen said with a smile.

"I feel the same way Shaggy and you're welcome" the intelligent female teen replied smiling.

Velma and Shaggy stuck very close to each other as they and their cowardly Great Dane continued exploring the town square area.

Their investigation was interrupted however when they heard a couple of familiar voices calling for them in the distance.

"Velma, Shaggy, Scooby?" called the voice.

The intelligent female sleuth didn't know who was calling for the three of them at first but then noticed a blond man wearing a white shirt along with a redheaded woman wearing a purple dress coming into view.

"Fred, Daphne!" Velma exclaimed, instantly recognizing the two figures.

The blond haired teen and his female redheaded companion rejoined the group, however Shaggy noticed that there was a frightened look on both their faces and wondered what was going on.

"Like what happened to you two, you look like you've seen a ghost," the cowardly teen stated.

"We sure did" Daphne said.

"Jinkies, you're kidding!" Velma replied looking shocked.

"I wish we were but we're not, we saw Rangor" Fred added.

"Like was he as powerful as Vincent said he was?" Shaggy asked.

"He sure was, he almost scared the two of us to death" Daphne responded.

"What did he look like?" Velma wondered.

"He was a gigantic, almost transparent figure glowing green all over almost as big as a house; he looked kind of like a huge shadow and pretty terrifying if you got a chance to look at him" Daphne responded, telling the gang about her and Fred's experience.

"Zoinks! Like I'm sorry I asked" Shaggy replied with a whimper.

"What happened after that?" Velma wondered.

"We told him who we were and that Vincent had sent us to stop him" Fred explained.

"Wow, then what?" Velma asked.

"Then he said he was going to make sure to stop us one way or another, after that we transformed into Cat Creatures to show him what we were capable of" Fred continued.

"Jinkies!" Velma exclaimed in amazement.

"Then he just disappeared into thin air" Daphne responded.

"Wow" Velma added.

"Like he must have been a scary sight" Shaggy remarked, sounding quite nervous.

"Reah rary" Scooby added.

"I'll say he was" the redhead stated.

"While we were walking back here I mentioned to Daphne that it would be a good idea if we stayed together during the rest of our investigation, after all there's strength in numbers" the blond haired leader of Mystery Inc. explained.

"Like, I can sure agree to that," responded Shaggy.

"Reah, rive is retter rhan rhree or rwo" Scooby added.

"Considering the situation I agree with Shaggy and Scooby" Velma stated.

"Like, you do?" Shaggy questioned.

"Of course, with the combined power of the five of us we should have no trouble in taking that ghost down" Velma declared.

"Agreed, now I think we should contact Mr. Van Ghoul again to tell him of our experiences so far with Rangor" the blond teen explained.

"Right, if there's one person in the world that has the most expertise in dealing with ghosts like the one we're facing now it's him" the redhead replied.

With that Scooby and company returned to the Mystery Machine to inform their warlock ally of their progress thus far.

"Freddie give me the keys so I can open the van and retrieve the Crystal Ball Mr. Van Ghoul gave us" Daphne explained.

"OK here you go Daph" the blond teen replied, acknowledging her request.

The redhead sleuth took the keys from her companion and unlocked the van, Daphne sat in the passenger seat and opened the vehicle's glove compartment; inside of which was the Crystal, she brought it outside the van with her after closing the vehicle door.

After returning the keys to Fred, the redhead also handed the Crystal Ball to the blond teenager; the gang stood at the side of the Mystery Machine and gathered around the Crystal as they prepared to make contact with their powerful friend.

"Calling Vincent Van Ghoul, Mr. Van Ghoul come in please," Fred said placing his hand atop the crystal ball.

"Hello, hello, Fred is that you?" a voice coming from the crystal asked.

"Yes it's me Fred" addressed Fred.

"I can hear you clearly Fred, what is it?" asked Vincent.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, we're in Russia and we found the thirteenth ghost" addressed Fred.

"I see" Vincent replied.

"Now that we've located the phantom, what should our next plan of action be Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Fred.

Scooby and company stood in the filtered midday sunshine next to their vehicle with Fred holding the Crystal Ball, as the four teenage sleuths and their Great Dane awaited further instructions from powerful warlock ally.


	10. Chapter 10

It is late morning as Scooby Doo and company stand next to the Mystery Machine, which is parked alongside an old cobblestone street in the Russian village of Kedifion; the group of investigators are in the midst of conferring with their magical friend Vincent Van Ghoul who is communicating with them via a crystal ball which is being held by Fred Jones.

Vincent sits at a large wooden desk in his castle in deep thought as he ponders what Mystery Inc. has told him about them finding Rangor, the thirteenth ghost from the Demon Chest; he stands up and walks over to a large electronic device which resembled a large GPS system, after checking a few of the instruments he returned to his desk and turned his attention back to the crystal.

"Fred?" Vincent asked.

"Yes?" Fred responded.

"How is your investigation into the thirteenth ghost progressing?" Vincent asked.

"Good," Fred replied.

"What have you found out about Rangor so far, does he have any weaknesses, have you tracked him to a particular area?" Vincent asked.

"Well we have seen him already" Daphne responded with a frown.

"Yes and we've already had to use our powers to show him that we mean business and that we intend to capture him" Fred added.

"Where exactly did you first encounter him?" Vincent questioned.

"Daphne and Fred were telling us that they saw Rangor in an area of the village flanked by several different shops, after that they rejoined us and then we decided to contact you" Velma explained.

"Interesting, I should tell you that prior to you five contacting me I was checking my spectral scanner and it appears that there is some powerful spectral activity in your general area" Vincent replied.

"Ruh-Roh," Scooby whimpered.

"Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Daphne.

"Yes Daphne?" Vincent replied.

"Based on what you said, and that you mentioned there was a heavy amount of ghostly activity in the area; we should be seeing that ghost again. " Daphne remarked.

"Correct," Vincent replied.

"Well, now that we know he's nearby, what should our next plan of action be?" Fred asked.

"Hmm… the five of you have been investigating supernatural based mysteries for years; in fact all of you were exposing phony ghosts and monsters long before I met you, so I would suggest that you plan to set up a trap for Rangor" Vincent advised them.

"That's true. We've had a lot of success catching ghosts," replied Daphne.

"Like not to mention our transformation powers. We have those at our disposal if we need them," remarked Shaggy.

"Thank you for the advice, Mr. Van Ghoul" Velma responded.

"You're welcome, Velma; like I said, you five are the ones with the experience in unraveling supernatural mysteries. I just wanted give you all some advice to assist you in your endeavors. Now, use what I told you and your powers to find Rangor. I don't think I need to remind all of you of what would happen if he isn't caught." Vincent replied sternly.

With that, Vincent's image faded from view. The gang stood outside the Mystery Machine, conferring over their next move.

"So how do we plan on catching Rangor, Fred?" asked Daphne.

"We simply look through the village and surrounding area until we find him." responded Fred.

"Like, considering he's the most powerful ghost from the Demon Chest, I just hope we can find him… and if we do, it hopefully won't be too late." Shaggy nervously commented.

"Don't worry, Shaggy. We'll track him down, even if we have to travel to the ends of the earth!" Velma declared.

"Right, come on gang let's find that ghost!" Fred exclaimed.

Mystery Inc. walked along the quaint cobblestone village streets hoping to locate the final and most dangerous of the thirteen ghosts; the group passed by numerous vehicles, as well numerous old buildings which housed all manner of shops, restaurants and other businesses; while there were only a few townspeople out on the streets, those that were outdoors looked over at the group of four teenagers and one Great Dane wondering what they were up to.

The Great Dane sniffed along the road looking for clues as to the whereabouts of the gang's ghoulish foe; suddenly Scooby caught a whiff of something and began running with the rest of Mystery Inc. following, after running for several minutes the canine sleuth suddenly froze.

"Scooby, why did you stop running?" asked Velma.

"Yeah Scoob, what's up?" Shaggy added.

The Great Dane turned towards the gang, pointing the way he had previously been looking at a strange green glow; Daphne's hearing which was rendered quite sensitive after using her powers, picked up a deep rumbling and shaking sound.

Mystery Inc. stood by trembling in fear as the mysterious green glow beginning to get larger; the glow began to form a large shadowy figure, then began to change into a large, green, phantom-like creature taking shape, when suddenly the creature spoke.

"Well, well, well look what the cat dragged in; the mere children that Vincent Van Ghoul sent to stop me have returned," Rangor mocked them with an evil smirk on his face.

"Correct you creep, we're back and this time we will stop you!" Daphne bellowed as anger filled her voice.

"Stop me, ha; even with the powers that Vincent Van Ghoul gave you, do you honestly expect to defeat me, Rangor the thirteen and most powerful ghost from the Chest of Demons?" Rangor laughed evilly as the gang gave him a disgusted look.

"That's what we intend to do, we've stopped ghosts like yourself before and we can do it again!" Fred added with increased vigor in his voice.

"You poor pathetic mortals, in all the years that I have been free from that blasted Chest no one has ever been able to defeat me and no one ever will!" Rangor bellowed.

"There's just one thing you haven't counted on Rangor" Velma replied.

"What's that?" he replied, as he attempted to finish his appointed task.

"Like you're talking to Mystery Inc., one of the greatest groups of detectives to ever solve mysteries" Shaggy remarked.

"Right, and we've had a friendship that has been going on for numerous years; not to mention we also have powers that surpass anything you've ever seen" Fred added.

"Friendship, ha! what powers does friendship have that could or can surpass anything that I have or for that matter anything that any of the thirteen ghosts possess?" Rangor sneered.

"You would be surprised, friendship is one of the most powerful emotions of all" Daphne commented.

"And nothing can defeat friendship, nothing" Fred added.

"So you five think that friendship in addition to your superpowers will be the combination that will put me back in that infernal chest?" Rangor asked.

"Yes Rangor, we not only think so; we know so!" Daphne remarked.

"Very well, let's just see about that once and for all!" Rangor replied, as he moved ever closer to Mystery Inc.

Rangor began cackling evilly as he moved backwards; he rose into the air and became surrounded by an eerie green whirlwind, strong hurricane force winds surrounded Scooby and company as they prepared to tangle with the wicked apparition.

"Now, do you meddling kids and your dog still think you can defeat me?" Rangor taunted, his voice cutting through the wall of hurricane strength wind as well as the omnipresent green glow, which was still surrounding the group.

"We most certainly can, come on gang let's show this phantom just exactly what Mystery Inc. can do!" Fred confirmed.

The rest of the gang nodded in agreement with Fred's statement and prepared to take down ghost number thirteen.

Each member of Mystery Inc. stood still in deep thought, trying to figure out the perfect animal or creature to transform into; the five sleuths knew that they would have to choose strong creatures in order to have enough power to defeat Rangor and they hoped they had picked right as each sleuth began to change.

Fred was the first of the group to undergo his transformation, the face was the first part of his body that underwent noticeable changes, as coarse brown fur grew over every inch of his face; Fred's ears became pointed and grew out of the sides of his head, his usual blue collared white shirt and orange ascot ripped and tore apart as more fur grew where his shirt and ascot once were, his arms began to change as the sleeves of his shirt ripped apart as well; the pair of blue jeans he was wearing ripped apart at the seams as yet even more brown fur covered his legs, lastly his brown shoes tore apart as his feet began a strange metamorphosis into sharp claws, finally Fred's transformation had finished, and he had chosen to become a Cat Creature.

Daphne began to transform next, she noticed that her face began changing shape, thick brown fur grew and covered every inch of her face as well; next, her ears were became pointed, she could feel her beautiful purple knit dress become torn to shreds as yet more fur grew where skin had been; her arms which only a few minutes ago were a thing of beauty became something out of a horror movie and covered in fur as well, her human hands were also becoming sharp claws and her legs which only seconds ago were covered in pink stockings also started to become furry; lastly, her feet were beginning to change into sharp claws as her purple heels tore apart, Daphne Blake had finished her transformation and like Fred had also chosen to become a Cat Creature.

Velma was the next to transform, she could feel her face changing shape; her face also began to grow brown fur while her human nose stretched out into a round black animal nose; her ears become pointed like those of a wolf, her teeth were becoming razor-sharp while her brunette-brownish hair became somewhat messy, her hands were becoming covered in thick fur as well, in addition she noticed that her finger nails were becoming sharp black claws; unlike Fred and Daphne, her clothing did not become torn and ragged as brown fur continued to grow all over her body, the parts of her legs that were not covered up by her long orange socks became covered in brown fur as well; her shoes began tearing as her feet were becoming furry brown paws in addition to that her toenails had become sharp black claws like the ones that had grown out of her hands, she could also feel something growing out of the back portion of the bottom of her skirt which in this case was a large brown wolf tail, finally Velma had finished transforming and she had chosen to become a Werewolf.

Shaggy was the next to undergo his transformation, he was a bit nervous as he started the strange magical metamorphosis into the creature he had chosen; he briefly looked over at Velma and saw that his female companion had become a Werewolf, the cowardly teen hoped and prayed that she would be ok and come out of this whole ordeal unscathed; during the strange transformation he briefly thought back to that fateful Halloween night when she had become a Werewolf the first time; he also briefly remembered the night when he visited Austria and his family's ancestral home and the man that had used an old medallion that belonged to his family to transform him into a horrible, snarling beast.

He remembered another girlfriend he had named Googie, when the moon shone on him while he was on a date with her at a local drive-in transforming him into a snarling howling creature of the night yet again, after which Count Dracula forced him to compete in the annual Monster Car Race, during which he had to use all of his skill and luck to win otherwise he would still have been a Werewolf during their current adventure; his thoughts now returned to the present and as he looked around he saw his friends Fred and Daphne, and his companion Velma finishing their transformations; Shaggy realized that it was now his turn to face the music.

The cowardly teen stood still as he underwent the strange metamorphosis; first he could feel his face changing shape, his nose and jaws stretched out and he could feel his ears become pointed and animal-like; brown fur had also started to grow all over his face and body; his arms began to change as they also became covered in coarse brown fur; he felt his legs transforming and becoming covered in fur as well, lastly his feet started to stick out of his black shoes as they began to change into the paws of a wolf complete with sharp black claws.

The cowardly lanky teenager who was and had always been frightened of any and all monsters, ghosts and supernatural creatures had put aside his life long cowardice and became one of the very things that he had been afraid of all these years, a monster; more specifically a Werewolf.

With the rest of Mystery Inc. already transformed, Scooby took his turn at transforming; because he was not human like his friends, the Great Dane's transformation was a little bit different than the rest of his detective friends; the cowardly canine began to change into his chosen creature, his ears became bigger than usual, his face began to become more beast-like and his fur became thicker and more dense than it usually was, his tail changed from a smaller dog's tail into a large wolf's tail; the Great Dane noticed that the nails on each of his paws grew into longer black claws, Scooby Doo had also become one of the very things he disliked, mainly a Werewolf.

Each member of the crime solving detective agency Mystery Inc. had finished utilizing their somewhat frightening but necessary transformations into half animal-half human creatures; while each of the teenage sleuths underwent their respective metamorphosis, Rangor stood in somewhat amazement as the gang stood at attention ready to do battle in their new forms against him, similar to what a regiment of troops would do in preparation for battle against whatever enemy they faced.

Fred stood in the middle of the street as he prepared to lead his friends into combat; he took a deep breath and prepared to give the order to attack the ghastly green phantom.

"Ready gang?" asked Fred in a feline-like growl.

"Ready!" replied the rest of Mystery Inc. in unison.

"OK, let's get that ghost!" Fred declared.

All at once Mystery Inc. charged towards Rangor with claws fully exposed, Fred and Daphne went for the ghost's arms, with Shaggy, Velma and Scooby going for the phantom's chest and upper body.

With their sharp long black claws Shaggy, Velma and Scooby reached for the ghost's chest and using their new appendages tore through Rangor's upper body.

"Ugh, blasted meddling mortals!" Rangor cried out as he stumbled backwards.

"Good work guys, now let's hit him again!" commanded Fred.

This time Fred and Daphne opened their mouths to reveal sets of sharp cat-like teeth; almost simultaneously the pair bit down on Rangor's arms, Fred taking the left one and Daphne taking the right one.

"Rangor looks like he's weakening; Shag, Velma, Scooby get the Chest of Demons ready!" Fred cried out.

However even with limited strength Rangor heard this and prepared to give the gang a wake-up call.

"So you five still plan to trap me in that blasted Chest of Demons? Well I'm going to see to it that doesn't happen!" taunted Rangor.

The immense green phantom-like creature inhaled taking a large amount of air and then exhaled, sending the gang backwards and onto the ground.

"Everybody all right?" asked Fred.

"I'm OK," replied Daphne brushing herself off.

"Likewise" said Velma.

"Me and Scooby are fine too," Shaggy added.

Mystery Inc. finished brushing themselves off and tried to stand back up in the strong almost hurricane force winds that Rangor was blowing.

"Freddie, no matter what we do we still can't get him down, what are we going to do?" Daphne asked.

"Gang listen carefully, we will get Rangor down and we will capture him in the Chest! now I have a plan everybody huddle up and listen carefully" Fred declared.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby got in a small circle and began whispering to one another; after a couple minutes or so, the gang broke the huddle and stood back up.

The gang stood in front of their ghostly foe, at least Daphne, Velma and Shaggy did while Fred whispered something to Scooby; the Great Dane turned Werewolf nodded at what Fred had told him and ran quickly behind Rangor.

The four teenage investigators stood in silence before Rangor smiling; the fearsome ghost was confused by this and spoke up.

"What are you mortal children doing?" Rangor hissed.

"We're just standing here admiring your power and the surrounding scenery, is there anything wrong?" Fred asked.

"I could have sworn there were five of you a second ago, I'm certain there was a dog here with you mortals" Rangor hissed.

"Oh you mean Scooby Doo, he decided to take a walk" Fred explained.

As he spoke the ghastly phantom was unaware that Scooby Doo was in point of fact right behind him, he didn't think of anything of Fred's statement and spoke again.

"You meddling mortals are up to something," Rangor thought.

"Well, actually we are up to something" the blond teenager confirmed.

"Aha, I figured as much; just what are you four up to?" the green ghost wondered.

"We want to make you a proposition," Fred explained.

"Oh you do, what kind of proposition are you proposing?" Rangor replied curious as to what the leader of Mystery Inc. could offer the thirteenth ghost.

"The proposition is this: we've decided we want to team up with you," Fred explained.

"We have?" Daphne asked surprised.

She looked over at the blond teenage sleuth and she did so, he winked at her and at Velma and Shaggy as well.

"Oh yeah we have" the redhead added, realizing what Fred was up to.

"Really?" Rangor asked, almost surprised by this turn of events.

"Yes, think of it; the four of us and Scooby-Doo with our shape-shifting powers and you as the thirteenth ghost from the great Chest of Demons, we would be unstoppable" Fred explained.

Rangor thought for a few moments about the proposal the blond teenager had given him; at first he thought the mortal was trying to trick him so that he and the gang could capture him in the Chest of Demons, however the ghost decided he was being serious and then smiled.

"Very Well, I accept your proposal" Rangor said with an evil smirk.

"Good, let's seal the partnership with a good luck handshake" Fred declared.

"What about the other three?" Rangor asked.

"We'll be included in this partnership as well" Daphne replied.

"Sounds wonderfully evil to me," Rangor declared.

"Good, come on gang let's give him a Mystery Inc. hearty handshake," Fred explained.

Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy each stepped forward with their hands extended to give the ghost a handshake when each of them started to run towards the ghost with outstretched arms and claws showing and pushed the ghost towards Scooby; Rangor stumbled and fell backwards tripping over Scooby's four legs.

"Why you blasted meddling kids!" Rangor hissed in pain as he sat on the ground rubbing his ghostly ankle.

"You five tricked me; I've been haunting the earth for hundreds of years and never have I fallen for such an underhanded, low down dirty trick!" Rangor angrily remarked.

"Now Rangor, we're going to lock you away forever so you won't do any more harm to the world," Fred declared as he opened the lid to the Chest of Demons.

As the Chest opened a strong force began to pull Rangor towards the sinister container.

"You meddling kids, you shall all pay dearly for this; you will all paaaaay!" Rangor shrieked as he was sucked back into the chest.

After Rangor was safely encased inside the Chest of Demons, Fred closed the container's large stone lid; finally ending Mystery Inc.'s journey to the ends of the earth to track down the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo.

After the Chest was securely locked Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby slowly transformed back into their natural forms.

"Phew, it's finally over," said Daphne breathing a heavy sight of relief.

"Like I second that," replied Shaggy.

"Rand rhird" Scooby commented.

"Right, now each and every one of the ghosts from the Demon Chest is locked up as if the chest was in Fort Knox" Fred declared.

"And with any luck those creepy ghosts will never be heard from or bother anyone ever again" Velma added.

"Like I sure hope so Velma, I wouldn't want to track down those thirteen spooks all over again" Shaggy replied.

With Fred holding the Chest of Demons, Scooby and company started heading back towards where they had parked The Mystery Machine; after walking for some time Mystery Inc. arrived back at their vehicle.

As they entered the vehicle the crystal ball that Daphne left sitting on the dashboard of the van before the group went in search of the thirteenth ghost began to glow; only this time it was not a regular glow, but a very strong one.

The glow from the crystal was so strong that the gang stepped slowly away from the Mystery Machine and opened the doors of the vehicle so that whatever was happening would not hurt anyone.

The glow became clearer and began to materialize; two shapes, a small one and a bigger one began to appear, and as the two forms took their final shape the gang smiled as two familiar faces could be seen.

As the gang figured, the group's young friend Flim Flam and their powerful warlock ally Vincent Van Ghoul stood in front of them beside the Mystery Machine.

"Flim Flam, Mr. Van Ghoul!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Boy is it great to see you two again!" Fred declared.

"Likewise" Flim Flam said.

"How did you two get here?" Velma asked.

"Simple, we used the crystal ball's transporter mechanism" Vincent explained.

"I thought the transporter didn't work," the intelligent female sleuth wondered.

"It didn't at first Velma, but we were able to fix it so that we could see your defeat of Rangor back at the castle and then transport ourselves here to congratulate you in person" Vincent explained

"Thank You for coming Mr. Van Ghoul and we were sure glad to defeat Rangor and finally conclude this chapter of our lives" Shaggy explained.

"Yeah not to mention those shape-shifting powers that you gave us sure came in handy in our defeat of the thirteenth ghost," Fred explained.

"I'll say they did, in fact if it hadn't been for those powers we would have never defeated him" the redheaded female detective replied.

"Well I'm glad to hear you have defeated Rangor and that he's locked away in that chest; now the world can rest easy knowing that the thirteen foulest ghosts, ghouls and specters will no longer be a threat to the planet" Vincent remarked with much relief in his voice.

"Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Fred.

"Yes Fred?" Vincent asked.

"How do you really know the spirits from the Chest won't escape and try to take their revenge or anything like that?" the blond teen wondered.

"Very simple Fred, Flim Flam and I will make sure to protect the box and make sure that no villains will ever get their hands on it as long as we both live" Vincent explained.

"You know I've got a question for the gang Vince, if it's ok to ask" the young boy remarked.

"It's quite alright Flim Flam, go ahead and ask" the great warlock replied.

"OK, what are the five of you going to do now that Rangor's been defeated?" asked Flim Flam.

"I don't know Flim Flam, for now we'll probably head back to our motel, check out and head home" Fred replied.

"Fred, what about the Chest of Demons?" asked the redheaded sleuth.

"That's right we have to figure out what we're going to about it," replied Fred.

"I've got an idea," explained Vincent.

"What is it Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Fred.

"Why don't the five of you head back to the Himalayas and then we can discuss things further," replied Vincent.

"Good idea Mr. Van Ghoul, we'll do that" addressed Fred.

"Well, Flim Flam and I have to be going but we'll see you back at the castle" Vincent declared.

"See you later Mr. Van Ghoul," replied Daphne.

"Goodbye everyone" Vincent said.

"Goodbye Mr. Van Ghoul and Flim Flam" replied the gang as they waved farewell to their friends.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby saw Vincent and Flim Flam fade away as the pair returned to Vincent's castle via the Crystal Ball's transporter.

The gang got back into The Mystery Machine and drove back towards their hotel; after arriving back at the hotel the gang went up to their rooms, retrieved their luggage came into the lobby area, paid their bill and went back outside to the van.

After making sure everything and everyone was in the Mystery Machine, the gang headed back towards the private airfield where the gang had left their private plane.

Mystery Inc. made sure each person and all of the gang's belongings were on the plane; after which Fred climbed into the pilot's seat with Daphne in the co-pilot's seat, after Scooby and company were seated and buckled up the Mystery Flying Machine climbed into the Russian skies headed for the Himalayan Mountains and a final rendezvous at Vincent Van Ghoul's castle.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

After flying for some time Fred noticed the Mystery Flying Machine's radar equipment beginning to activate; Daphne looked over and saw that the gang were approaching their destination.

"Looks like Mr. Van Ghoul's castle is directly below us Freddie" Daphne noted.

"Sounds good, I'll begin our descent and I'll put the plane down outside the castle," replied Fred.

The Mystery Flying Machine began its descent and Fred guided the plane down onto the snow covered mountain terrain, the plane landed safely on the stone pavement path leading up to Vincent's castle.

After Fred landed the plane and the gang made sure it was safely parked, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby walked over to the side doors of the plane, opened the doors and walked down a ramp leading from the plane to the ground.

The five of them then walked along the stone path from where Fred landed the plane over to the front door of Vincent Van Ghoul's castle; Fred slowly knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

Fred could hear someone from inside the castle walk up to the door to answer, he and the rest of the gang waited with baited breath as the large doors opened; standing in the doorway was Flim Flam the young reformed con artist that had helped Shaggy, Daphne, Scooby and Scrappy-Doo so many years ago, now he would get to meet the other two members of Mystery Inc.: Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley.

"Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby!" Flim Flam exclaimed as he hugged the three visitors.

"Boy I am I glad to see you guys again!" Flim Flam exclaimed.

"Like we're happy to see you again Flim Flam old buddy!" Shaggy exclaimed as he shook the young boy's hand.

"Yeah, I mean we did get to see you for a little while but now we get to see you for a much longer time" Daphne replied.

Fred and Velma who were not with the gang when they met the young man previously and had only seen him for the first time a few days ago both smiled and gave him a handshake and a hug.

"It's sure nice to finally meet you Flim Flam" Fred said with a smile as he shook the youngster's hand.

"Likewise, we've heard a lot about you" Velma replied as she gave the young man a hug.

"Thank You Fred and Velma; it's too bad that you two weren't with us when we caught the first twelve ghosts" Flim Flam remarked.

"Well you know how it is, besides if we had attended college closer to home we might have joined you guys" Fred commented.

"Unfortunately, it didn't happen; but we did get to track down the thirteenth ghost and boy was he tough" Velma replied.

"All of the ghosts that we chased were pretty tough, why don't you guys sit down in the front room and we can talk about those days" Flim Flam remarked.

"We would love to" Fred replied as he shut the large doors; he, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby and Flim Flam all sat down on a sofa and some soft chairs in the main room of Vincent's castle.

Vincent Van Ghoul meanwhile sat at a large wooden desk and smiled as he watched Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby and Flim Flam relate their adventures with Scrappy-Doo to Fred and Velma.

For the next hour and a half or so, the four members of Mystery Inc. went through every detail that were present in tracking down the thirteen ghosts told about every detail no matter how small or large of their globe-trotting adventures to Fred and Velma who were not present at that time.

Fred and Velma gasped, cheered, laughed and cried at the details of the trio's adventures with Flim Flam and Scrappy; the two of them heard of Daphne being changed into a werewolf, Flim Flam filling The Mystery Flying Machine with his Lotsa Luck Joy Juice, Daphne being put under a sleeping spell by Maldor the Malovelent and traveling through numerous spooky locations; Flim Flam and Daphne being hypnotized by an evil circus ringmaster as well as the gang's visit to Scooby's hometown, Vincent being turned to stone and the gang having to trust Weerd and Bogel in order to bring him back to normal, Scooby almost leaving the gang after Time Slime's encounter with him, the gang visiting Boris Kreepoff's television show, the time the gang visited New Orleans to cheer on Vincent Van Ghoul at the Warlock of the Year banquet and trying to avoid the evil Nicara as well as numerous other details about the group's worldwide journey to capture the thirteen ghosts from the demon chest.

Finally after each of the stories of the first twelve ghosts were told Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby told of their encounter with Rangor the thirteenth and most powerful ghost from the Chest of Demons, the gang recounted every detail right down to Rangor being locked up in the chest, after which Fred pulled out the large red and gray evil-looking box and placed it on the sofa.

Vincent Van Ghoul slowly got up from his desk and walked over to the gang; he pulled up a chair and sat down in between the sofa where Fred and Daphne were sitting and the wooden chairs in which Shaggy, Velma and Scooby were sitting in.

As he relaxed back into his chair Vincent's mouth slowly formed into a smile, he then proceeded to move his chair forward, after which he sat down and was in deep thought for a few moments; he then decided to get up from his seat and walked over to the sofa, he took the Chest of Demons with him from next to Fred and walked back to his chair.

"Congratulations Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby as well as Flim Flam and Scrappy even though he isn't here right now; the seven of you have helped rid the world of thirteen of the most evil ghosts, ghouls and specters on Earth; if these phantoms had not been caught, who knows what destruction and havoc they would have wreaked" Vincent commented as he placed the Chest of Demons on the floor next to his chair.

"You're welcome Mr. Van Ghoul, it was certainly thrilling to save the world" Fred replied.

"Sure was; we got to travel to many new places, meet lots of new people and have several great adventures that we're certainly going to remember for the rest of our lives" Daphne responded.

"No problem everyone, I was more than happy to work with the seven of you and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together" Vincent responded with a smile.

"Like I guess that's it then" Shaggy remarked.

"I guess you're right Shag, one of the biggest mysteries that we've ever solved is over" Velma replied.

"There's still one question left unanswered that we still need to figure out" Fred commented.

"What's that?" Daphne asked.

"Well, it concerns the shape shifting powers that Vincent gave us" Fred remarked.

"What about them?" Daphne asked.

"Well we still have them and we need to decide what to do with them" Fred commented.

"That's right, what are we going to do about them; should we keep them?" Daphne responded.

"Like I have an idea" Shaggy remarked.

"What is it?" Velma asked.

"There are a lot of teenage superheroes out there: Robin, the Teen Titans, Spider-Man among others, they all use their superpowers to help fight crime all over the world; I had a lot of fun using my transformation powers and I would love to continue to use them, so why don't we use our shape shifting powers to continue to solve mysteries and also we could use them to fight crime all over the world" Shaggy commented.

"Shaggy, that's actually a pretty cool idea; I had a lot of fun using my powers and there's still a lot of criminals out there; we could use our powers to greatly help and assist mankind" Fred replied.

"Yeah, Velma and I enjoyed using our powers as well and I wholeheartedly agree with Fred and Shaggy, let's keep our powers and use them in solving mysteries and catching criminals" Daphne commented.

"That sounds good to me, I've always been interested in the study of animals and being able to become an animal or creature would give me the ability to get to know what goes through the mind of one; what they think about, how they act, their habits and all sorts of various things about them" Velma remarked.

"Reah, everything rounds rood to re" Scooby remarked.

"I think before we make a final decision on our powers we should ask the person who gave us these abilities: Vincent Van Ghoul" Fred remarked.

"Good idea Fred" Daphne replied.

Each of the gang slowly turned to Vincent to ask him about their superpowers; still sitting in his chair he smiled and then began speaking to Mystery Inc.

"The five of you did an excellent job in catching the thirteenth ghosts, plus the five of you used your shape shifting powers quite well in catching Rangor therefore I don't mind the five of you keeping your powers and using them to fight crime and solve mysteries, also I give you my blessing to use continue to use your powers, use them in good health and congratulations" Vincent responded.

"Thank you Mr. Van Ghoul and we will" Fred remarked.

"This is going to be really exciting, being able to transform into any animal or creature; and using those abilities to solve mysteries and stopping criminals, this is sure going to be exciting" Daphne responded.

"OK gang, let's do a final vote on this; I like the idea, Daph what about you?" Fred asked.

"I vote yes, it sounds great" Daphne commented.

"Count me in, Yes" Velma commented.

"Like, it sure will be cool and yes" Shaggy remarked.

"Reah rount re rin" Scooby chimed in.

"That settles it then we're all in agreement; we'll continue to use our transformation and shape shifting abilities to solve mysteries and catch criminals" Fred remarked.

"And we'll make sure and use them wisely and not to abuse them either" Daphne replied.

"Right, so I guess that wraps everything up" Fred responded.

"And as for the Chest of Demons I'll take it and put it a safe place here in the castle; the Chest will be safe and secure so that no one except the six of us will ever know where it is" Vincent commented.

"Good, I guess that takes care of every detail; I guess that means it's time for us to head for home" Fred responded.

Vincent called to Flim Flam who was in another room so he could say goodbye to Scooby Doo and friends.

"Coming Vince" Flim Flam commented as he ran quickly into the front room.

Flim Flam smiled as he came into the room, he then went over and wished Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby goodbye by shaking their hands and thanking them for helping out in catching the thirteen ghosts; after wishing the gang goodbye Flim Flam found himself beginning to tear up a bit, the blond teenage leader of Mystery Inc. wondered what was going on and asked the young boy why he was crying.

"What's the matter Flim Flam?" Fred asked with concern in his voice.

"It's just that, I had so much fun with you guys plus you were great friends and now I may not get to see you guys for a long time; not to mention the fact that because I never had a real family, you guys are kind of like my family; I always considered you, Shaggy and Scooby as brothers, and Daphne and Velma as sisters, plus I always considered Daph as a mother and you as a father Fred" Flim Flam replied as a tear ran down his cheek.

"I completely understand Flim Flam, and when I first met you I kind of thought of you as a brother and as a son too; I know we'll always be good friends, and you'll always be a part of the Mystery Inc. family for as long as we all live" addressed Fred as a tear also ran down his cheek.

"Flim Flam old buddy I know Fred's right and that you'll always have a home with me, Daphne, Velma, Scooby and Fred; whenever you want to contact us or visit us, you go right ahead, we'll always have the welcome mat out for you" Shaggy added.

"Right Flim Flam, and if you ever want to know anything about science or biology or anything of that nature just let me know and I'll tell teach you" Velma remarked.

"The rest of the gang's right Flimmy, you'll always be a part of the group and we'll always think of you" Daphne said.

"Reah, Rlim Rlam, rou're rool" Scooby added.

"See Flim Flam, it'll all be OK, we'll still see you every once in a while plus we'll still see you on holidays too; not to mention we can still keep in touch by phone, e-mail and regular mail" Fred responded.

"That's true, you guys and girls are the best friends a guy ever had and I hope you guys have lots of fun solving mysteries and catching crooks OK?" Flim Flam replied with a smile on his face.

"We certainly will Flim Flam, goodbye" Fred responded.

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby each walked over to Vincent Van Ghoul to wish him well and each member of Mystery Inc. shook his hand and thanked him for helping the gang in their endeavors.

"Thank You Mr. Van Ghoul, I don't know what we would have done without you" Fred commented.

"You're very welcome, I was more than happy to help all of you; and if I had to I would do it all over again" Vincent replied.

After Scooby and friends once again thanked Vincent and Flim Flam for their help in the past, the gang waved goodbye to the two of them as they left Vincent's castle.

The gang walked outside the castle and walked back over to the Mystery Flying Machine; Fred started up the plane's engine and prepared to take off, being a good pilot he made sure everything was in perfect working order on the aircraft; after everything was checked and double-checked the gang buckled their seatbelts and prepared to take off.

As the Mystery Flying Machine gained altitude, climbing thousands of feet into the air, Flim Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul waved to Scooby and company; Velma, Shaggy and Scooby looked out the back windows of the aircraft towards the ground as they waved back to their friends, and as they did so they would always remember the great times they had with the two of them and looked forward to what new adventures were in store for the four world famous teenage sleuths and their equally well-known Great Dane.

Author's Notes: Hopefully everybody like this story and to Bijoukaiba: thank you for all the advice; just to let everyone who likes my stories know I'm kind of lazy when it comes to the whole writing Fan Fiction thing, I like writing Scooby Fan Fiction and it's become a great hobby for me. So if it takes a while for me to complete my stories you'll know why, that being said again I really enjoy writing Scooby Doo Fan Fiction; also I plan to continue the Mystery Morphs fan fiction series and I have plenty other fan fic ideas that I will be publishing in the future.


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